Loss. People, memory, things. Jack Gilbert

A Special Fish

Walking in Lincoln Park, thinking about loss, and the people I love who are going through loss, I saw this little sign along the pathway in memory of a very special fish, Arturo. The child’s printed sign also asks, please do not remove.

I remember poignant lines from Jack Gilbert’s poem.

The Lost Hotels of Paris

“The Lord gives everything and charges

by taking it back. What a bargain.

Young Autumn Blaze Maple Ready to Give Back

…It is right to mourn

for the small hotels of Paris that used to be

When we used to be.

Nest Abandoned

…But it’s the having not the keeping that is the treasure.

Garden Courtyard

We look up at the stars and they are

not there. We see the memory

of when they were, once upon a time.

And that too is more than enough.”

Holding the Promise

Thank you Jack Gilbert.

November’s “Harvest of the Heart”

Henri Matisse "Lorette with Cup of Coffee" Art Institute Chicago

Set the clocks back… if only we could set time back, would we, how far?

The days of summer with their promise of warmth, growth, entertainment—gone.

Autumn is harvest—reap, sort, discard, pass on, and keep.

The trees shed their last leaves, nests abandoned as the birds migrate, and the North Pond’s stillness in the Hunter’s moon predawn, now shimmers with the reflective sun. Where does energy come from without the sun?

AUTUMN

Children bring in the leaves

Dust the floor with energy

Sprinkles of life’s residue.        …Adagio Micaletti 2009

Or are we like the pond, still—with life hidden beneath the surface? Reflective only of energy given?

This is the time to ponder, silent. Covered thoughts grow in stillness.

November  “… the days to be grateful for the harvest of the heart, however humble it might be, and to prepare for the coming of the year’s closure.” … Simple Abundance Sarah Ban Breathnach.

…And dipping Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti into your coffee.

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

Recipe for Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti can be found on Blog Bursts.

Pumpkins, Witches, and the Spirits of Halloween

Wrinkled I May Be I Hold the Secrets of the Season

The week of Halloween is here. The trees tell us first. Changing colors and hues. Carpets of fallen leaves cover the ground in gold, scarlet, acra violet, alizarine crimson. Silhouettes of black licorice branches pierce clusters of golden orange, copper, raw sienna, against translucent patinas of blue, slate gray, platinum skies.

And pumpkins.

Anthony's Pumpkin Prince

Carving faces to scare, cheer, different every year. Costumes, parties, pies, Trick or Treat …

Goblins, ghosts, candy apples, and good things to eat.

Witch Riding the 151 Bus

Will the Princess Pumpkin Please Stand?

Masks to Scare and Dare

And Pumpkin seeds…

Scoop Out the Seeds and Pulp

Roasted Sugar ‘n Spice Pumpkin Seeds

1 cup fresh pumpkin seeds from pumpkins, rinse and drain

Rinse and Drain the Seeds

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 300˚F.

Spread seeds on rimmed baking sheet and bake about 30 minutes.

Spread on Baking Sheet

Increase oven temperature to 350˚F.

In small bowl mix sugar, salt and cinnamon.

Toss Seeds with Spices

In a large bowl toss the seeds with the oil, and sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

Place on baking sheet, roast until browned and crisp, 10 minutes.

Sugar Spice Pumpkin Seeds

BOO!

Eve’s Red Hot Apple Dumplings

Eve's Red Hot Apple Dumplings with Red Hot Cinnamon Sauce on the Side

Tara and I made these the first time using our family pie crust recipe.  We realized with all the hands on work involved after the pie crust was made, it was too labor intensive…so, like Eve, I decided to take the easy way out.

Eve’s Red Hot Apple Dumplings Recipe*

Begin with pre-made butter based pie sticks from the refrigerated section of your grocers or if you are so inclined use your favorite pie crust recipe.

Each pie crust stick rolled out will cover three apples.

Red Hot Cinnamon Glaze

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup water

3 tablespoons cinnamon red hots

2 tablespoons butter

Place sugar, water, red hots, in saucepan and bring to a boil.

Stir in butter and set aside. (This is enough glaze for 8 apples.)

Bring Red Hot Cinnamon Glaze to a Boil

Red Hot Filling for Cored Center of Apple

½ cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter

2-3 tablespoons red hots

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix cinnamon and sugar together.

Set up assembly line of sugar-cinnamon mix, red hots, butter.

Set aside.

Set Up Assembly Line

Peel and core apples.

Choose 6 to 16 medium sized, Fugi, Jonagold, Roman Beauty, Cortland or Winsap. These types are sweet tart and with low moisture content and will retain their shape after cooking. Set Aside.

Roll out pastry dough.

Prepare Pastry, Cut and Use Bowl for Pattern

Fill core of apple with Red Hot Filling:

Rotate layers of cinnamon-sugar, pieces of butter, red hots.

Fill Core with Red Hot Filling

Fold, Pinch, and Press to Form Fit the Pastry

Use Excess Pastry for Apple Stem and Leaves

Top With Red Hot Cinnamon Glaze

Pour the glaze over Eve’s Apple Dumplings in baking dish and bake at 425˚ for 45 minutes. Every 7-10 minutes ladle more glaze.

Eve's Apples Fresh From the Oven

Serve warm.

These look more like mini pumpkins than apple dumplings, but wait until you taste them!

And cinnamon ice cream?

Right now I’m testing and adapting my mom’s Apple Slices from her recipe for my book in progress.

*This recipe is an adaptation of a recipe from Tara Riley.

Adam, Robert Frost, and Eve’s Apple Picking

Adam Didn’t have a Chance!

A fall family ritual every year we gather at an orchard in Wisconsin to pick apples, breathe in the country air, and eat!

We pick the apples in one orchard, munching as we pick, ferreting out the Honey Crisp apple trees, pay for our bushel and pecks and drive down the road about 1/2 mile to Harvest Time Apple Orchard.

Apple Carved from the Tree Stump

At Harvest Time we eat more apples! In various forms… apple doughnuts, apple soft-serve, Wisconsin Brats, cheeses, and drink fresh hot apple cider made before our eyes!

Harvest Time has a cider mill!

Apple Pressers Working with a Filled Press

And farm house filled with Wisconsin cheeses, sausages, baked goods. Outside there is a petting zoo for the kids, picnic tables, and various smaller houses with gourds, pumpkins, and apple related tchotchkes.

On the way home I think of my poetry class and fragmented lines from Robert Frost’s poem, “After Apple-Picking.”

An Italian Handful…of Apple!

Fragments from “After Apple Picking” by Robert Frost.

“… and there may be two or three

Delicious Apples on a Bough

Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.”

“The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight…”

“Magnified apples appear and disappear,

Stem end and blossom end,

And every fleck of russet showing clear.”

“The rumbling sound of load on load of apples coming in.“

Applepaloosa of Apples Being Made Into Cider

“For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired”

Apples of All Colors, Unite!

“There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,

Cider Machine End of Day

Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.

For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,

Went surely to the cider-apple heap

As of no worth.”

Thank you Robert Frost.

And then my thoughts ramble forward to all the apples rumbling in the trunk of Polly’s car.

I  think of Adam and the apple, and Tara’s recipe for Eve’s Apple Dumpling, a dish no one could resist!

And wonder, should I post the recipe with the steps and pictures on my blog next week?

Or as a recipe with only one picture on Blog Bursts? (Since 1 photo is all I can insert in that format.)

Eve’s Apple Dumplings Glazed Fresh From the Oven

What do  you think? 

Chicago’s Olympic Bid and Italian Chicken Soup

Picasso Sculpture in Daley Plaza with Laurel Wreath and Olympic Metal

Friday, October 2, 2009 in Chicago started out rainy, chilly, and cloudy, but the radio announcers, TV stations, and populous were excited and psyched. All week, beginning with all-night talk shows until early hours, reminding us the votes of the Olympic Committee would be in by 11 AM. We will know by noon!

Chicago 2016 Flag

There was a rally at Daley Plaza to celebrate and cheer-on Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. I went.

Even the Picasso Sculpture was decked with a laurel band across its head and an inflatable Olympic metal hanging around its neck. The bands played, cameras clicked, crowds cheered, wearing Let Friendship Shine 10.02.09 give-away-orange-tee-shirts, waving flags with the Olympic symbol Chicago Candidate 2016, banners, spotlights, microphones, TV commentators, families, students, Chicagoans, tourists, suburbanites, entertainers, and politicians.

The b. Here Boys

The diversity of Chicago as an American city showed in the mixed reactions and opinions of the ever-vocal Chicagoans revolving around Chicago’s bid.

• Committed Chicagoans— companies, workers, and volunteers, who carried the dream. People who worked hard and long on Chicago’s bid.

• Ambivalent Chicagoans— not against, not enthused—willing to wait and watch.

• Against the bid— the people who feel the city needs to take care of itself first. Chicagoans who felt overtaxed, and knew hosting the games would increase taxpayer debt.

• And every attitude in-between.

But the people at Daley Plaza when the early announcement was made were stunned.

Chicagoan Stunned by the Announcement

What Happened? How?

The shock and disappointment of Chicagoans was deepened by our elimination in the first vote.

People stood in disbelief.

Some cried.

Some said, Maybe next year… like the CUBS!

Disappointed Crowd is Silent

A gloomy day got colder and gloomier. The camera crews and newsmen were packing up, crowds ready-to-party started disbursing for pity-parties. An emotional eater, I wanted to go home and make Chicken Soup.

As I rode the 151 Bus home I thought about why?

The newspapers and blogs are full of the reasons. But…

When choosing locations for the Olympic Games, the IOC specifically gives the honor of holding the Games to a city rather than a country.

I checked on the cities. And was surprised by the stats.

International Flags Flank the Stage On a Bad Hair Day

A South American city has never hosted the Olympic Games.

London, United Kingdom; 1908, 1948, and will host the Olympics the third time in 2012.

Athens, Greece; the modern originator hosted the first time in 1896, again in 1956.

Paris, France; hosted in 1900, and again in 1924.

Los Angeles, United States of America; hosted in 1932, 1984.

St. Louis in 1904, and Atlanta in 1996, United States of America; have also hosted the games.

The winner, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is a spectacular city in South America!

“The world has recognized that the time has come for Brazil.” Said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the country’s first working-class leader, as he wept tears of joy after the announcement they won the bid.

“Canadian Olympic Committee president Chris Rudge, noted that sport still trumps everything else at the Olympics, and pointed to Brazil drafting legendary soccer player Pele for its bid.”  “Brazil had Pele. People forget that.” The Vancouver Sun.

But for me, the most impressive thing I read was the Olympic Creed itself.

The Olympic Creed reads: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

Chicago, you took part, had the struggle, fought well, and with heart…

Now about that Rich Italian Chicken Soup.

Rich Italian Chicken Soup With Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese Shavings

The recipe for Rich Italian Chicken Soup is posted on Blog Bursts .

Stars Spotlight Jersey Boys, John Coltrane, Easter Seal Superstars, and Maria Pinto

Stars Jersey Boys, John Coltrane, Easter Seals, and Maria Pinto

I’ve been seeing stars in Chicago all week!

The week began with a fundraiser Monday evening at North Pond Restaurant in Lincoln Park starring the Jersey Boys, on their night off!

View From The North Pond

“Chicago’s own” Lou Canellis the Bears Sports Announcer was Master of Ceremonies.

The Jersey Boys wove their magic. They were personable, lively, and fun. Between songs—”not from the show,” they shared their stories, and donated themselves for auction.

Jersey Boys Generous Donations

The active bidding between guests became so competitive the Jersey Boys offered duplicate evenings…”as their guests for the show and a backstage tour.”  Doubling their generous donation for the North Pond Master Fund and Lincoln Park Conservancy.

North Pond Restaurant Ready for the Guests

The North Pond Restaurant shared the spotlight with its Prairie-style, skirted tables, candlelight, trays of delicious hors-d’oeuvres, wines, and a staff that was attentive, understated, and solid.

Lucky me, I volunteer as a North Pond Gardener and was asked to volunteer that evening.

It sure beats pulling out thistles!

Prickly Little Pests

Volunteer Gardeners

Friday Night SPACE in Evanston spotlighted another star:

John Coltrane Tribute Tenor Sax "Giant Steps"

John Coltrane with a Birthday Tribute.

I went with my friend Ruth.

We loved it!

But “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” Elvis Costello.

Beat of the Piano Player's "Giant Steps''

“ When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hangups I want to speak to their souls. All a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion with the natural laws.” …John Coltrane

Saturday brings more Stars in the spotlight.

Easter Seals Long Fashion Runway

“The Easter Seals Superstars Live!” 29^th Annual Luncheon and Fashion Show of Easter Seals DuPage and the Fox Valley Region. A fashion show where the models are the children with disabilities who make the brave walk down that long runway.

ABC News Anchor Sylvia Perez was the guest commentator, her understanding, sincerity and appreciation of the life journey ahead for the children, and the unsung heroes on or off the runway, the families, teachers, therapists, staff, and volunteers who work with them daily was simpatico. She’s been here before and once again did a fantastic job.

Matthew Hansen acted as the Fashion Show Youth Ambassador. Matthew has achieved a great many goals, “his accomplishments include drinking from a straw, feeding himself with assistance, scooting himself out of a wheelchair and walking with a walker, and interacting with teachers, family and friends using augmentative communication.” Matthew  started at the center when he was 10 months old and is now a senior at York High School.

Protection, Courage, and Strength

Cheering Triumphant

A Man Is Never So Tall...

A fashion show where “each child on the runway embodies the mission of Easter Seals to enable infants, children and adults with disabilities to achieve maximum independence, and to provide support for the families who love and care for them.”

Families Stepping Together

Renee's Mama Watches

Please Try Again...

I watch them take halting steps, full of effort.

I think of John Coltrane’s 1960 jazz album, “Giant Steps,”  watch each step, face, effort.  Applaud.

And keep buying chances.

That say Please Try Again.

Reminded of my fortune cookie quote:

A journey must begin with a single step.

“Giant Steps!”  I cheer.

Taking "Giant Steps"

I watch caring parents, families, siblings, friends, therapists, teachers and staff, pushing, holding hands, carrying, feeding, propping-up, guiding the children, patient and loving.

See their progress from year to year and cheer more!

The show continues with models wearing Chicago Designer Maria Pinto and other contributing designers’ collections.

Chicago Designer Maria Pinto's Collection

Psychedelic Swirls Sashay

Surrounded by a galaxy of love, gratitude, and appreciation, Craig’s face beams as he carries Renee the rest of the way… after her first “Giant Steps” on the runway.

Stars Above Cloud Nine

Chicago the “City of Big Shoulders” and bigger heart.

Fly-In Party with a Bi-Plane Appetizer

FLY-IN Airplane Chrome and Corn Field Borders

Kristin started this with her response last week to my blog on The Italian Haitian Island Antipasto and Jay’s invitation to the 4^th Annual Oktoberfest Fly-In at Walnut Creek Airport in Somonauk, Illinois, on her birthday!

Jay, Brent, and Pete's Bi-Plane for Inspiration

Kristin wanted ideas for a Fly-In Appetizer!  That started Greg and Marcy thinking…

What about a Bi-plane???

An antipasto Bi-plane?

What could we use? Greg suggested a salami for the Chassis?  Or maybe a baguette and frost it with a savory cheese spread?  We went to the Family Fruit Market for inspiration, and found the Chinese Okra.

Chinese Okra? A green Bi-plane?

Green Plane with Stars but it's not a Bi-plane.

Red and Ready in the Field

Once we decided on using the Chinese Okra for the Chassis, we found four cacti for the Supporting Planes (wings,) cinnamon sticks for the Struts, another cactus for the Elevator (tail,) baby corns for the Propeller, a pimento stuffed olive for the Nose, two jalapeño peppers for the Legs, baby eggplant for the fat Wheels, star fruit for the Stars. And kept laughing…

Oops we almost forgot the banner!

Ryan got on the computer and rescued us.

Chinese Okra Bi-Plane at the Party

We chose the antipasto ingredients from Blog Bursts: Recipe Italian Haitian Island Antipasto with an alternative selection of meats and cheeses keeping in mind the party was in the Midwest, not on Taylor Street.

The Fly-In hostesses, Carol and Sandy, thought of everything. The hangar worktables were covered with festive tablecloths, the  grills set up for brats and hot dogs, Jimmy’s Soft Serve ice cream with toppings, logs stacked for the campfire, kegs, hammock, chairs, tables, and pool.

All afternoon waiting guests were  in line, excited about the complementary plane rides.

I wish I knew the names of all these fabulous, restored planes on the corn-field-runway.

Our Hostesses Sandy, Carol, and Megan

Tables with Brats, Buns, Homemade Ice Cream and "Something to Pass"

Planes keep landing and taking off all afternoon.

Fly-In Host Brent and Blue Skies

They're Off...

Tecumseh From Michigan

Pulling Navy Bi-Plane onto the Runway.

Babies, kids, teenagers, dogs,  seniors, and everything-in-between, arrive and bring a “Dish to Pass!”  Beautiful salads, sides, and casseroles covered the hangar worktables. Another long workbench along the wall featured sumptuous desserts framed by tools neatly organized on the hangar walls.

Family, Food, Fun, and Friends

The spirit and fun continued into the night, people set-up their tents for sleepovers.

The entertainment featured the band Back County Roads, and the evening ended with a blazing campfire.

Under the Setting Sun

Thank you Sandy and Jay and Carol and Brent for a beautiful day!

Our Fly-In Host Jay with Bi-Plane Appetizer Tray

A grand time was had by all.

Italian Haitian Island Antipasto Platter

Italian-Haitian Island Antipasto Platter

I offered to make an appetizer for a large birthday party for Frantz.  The birthday boy’s roots are Haitian.

I asked Greg and Marcy of “Elvis Night” to help me—and to maybe think up a theme.

The Chefs! Marcy and Greg at it again.

Greg suggested an antipasto — but, he said,  since there are a variety of sliced meats and cheeses in a good antipasto, the colors would tend to be browns, reds, and yellows.

I said maybe we should make a Duck…?

I am thinking of the Wild Turkey antipasto Greg and Olivia made one Thanksgiving.

Undaunted, Marcy and Greg decide we will make an Italian Haitian Island Antipasto in honor of Frantz and his native Island, Haiti.

An Italian-Haitian Island Antipasto.

Haitian flag and all.

Marcy even added a butterfly flying above.

Inspired by the Spirit of the Islands we began assembling the ingredients.

The Island Spirit Watches Over

Italian-Haitian Island Antipasto Platter

2 heads large leafy lettuce, to cover the platter.

Logistics of a Italian-Haitian Island

3 pounds large Idaho Potatoes, one-length-side sliced, to stabilize the palm trees and create levels on the platter.

Carrots loose, peeled, long, thick, and irregular for the palm tree trunks.

Green Peppers cut for the palm fronds.

Cutting Green Pepper Palm Fronds

Yellow Peppers for mounds and rosemary around the palm tree base.

Jumbo Pitted Green Olives create coconuts at the base of the palm trees.

Add some Island radish roses, a few glasses of wine, and an apple sliced down the center with the seeds and skin—rinsed in lemon juice so it won’t discolor—and voila a butterfly!

Haitian Flag and the Butterfly

The recipe and ingredients for Italian-Haitian Island Antipasto Platter is on Blog Bursts.

Ciliegine Tomato Basil Caprese Salad

Ciliegine Caprese Salad

Ciliegine in Italian means cherry.
At the grocers there is a type of mozzarella called Ciliegine; round soft fresh mozzarella balls packed in water or oil, a little larger than cherry tomatoes.

Caprese got its name from the Isle of Capri, off the Amalfi Coast and Naples, Italy.
The colors of the salad—red-tomatoes, white-mozzarella cheese, and green-basil, are symbolic of the Italian flag.

My first memory of Caprese salad was at my Grandma’s cottage. She called it tomato-basil salad. As if the cheese was an afterthought or maybe mozzarella cheese wasn’t available from the local farmers. The bulbous ripe tomatoes and piquant, aromatic basil were abundant, picked from her garden.

Basil flower

The mozzarella usually arrived with us from Chicago, crammed in a spaghetti pot filled with ice and cheeses stashed on the floor of the back seat of our car.

Grandma would make a Caprese platter while we ran in-and-out to the swing and slam of the screen door, already in our bathing suits headed for the pier and our cousins.
“A little something.” To go with her homemade bread while the adults would “talk”—laugh, yell, relax, and make dinner.

Grandma's Caprese Platter

She started with washed basil leaves from her garden, then placed juicy sliced tomatoes gently on top, next the soft white fresh mozzarella slices, thick as the tomato slices, and topped the mozzarella with a large fresh basil leaf. The vivid colors with only a half-moon showing—rotate, circle the platter. At the table she lightly dressed the salad with swirls of yellow-green olive oil—bought in shiny-silver gallon cans stenciled with a beautiful gold and black design around the sides, a carrying-handle and small capped lid on top—a splash of white balsamic vinegar, coarse salt and freshly ground pepper.

Because of the availability and taste of cherry tomatoes and the multicolored heirloom cherry tomatoes at the Green City Farmer’s Market; I make this salad in miniature.
Bite size works for the kids too.

Jewel Boxes of Tomatoes with a String of Pearls

My neighbor Laura makes Caprese as an Hors-d’oeuvre.

Laura uses the marinated fresh mozzarella balls, prepared in oil with finely chopped parsley, basil, red pepper, garlic, and oregano. She slices the marinated mozzarella in half, and with an extra long toothpick, threads the basil leaf coated with vinegar and oil, marinated mozzarella, a cherry tomato, and the end of the basil leaf. The red pepper in the marinade gives it an extra holiday touch.

Laura's Caprese Hors-d'oeuvres

Beautiful and delicious.

To make a Quick and Easy Caprese:

Use tomatoes fresh from the garden, especially if you have cheery-cherry tomato plants and grow your own basil. Farmer’s Market tomatoes are delicious too.
Slice the cherry tomatoes in half, slice the Ciliegine (mozzarella balls) in half, toss in a bowl with a vinaigrette of extra-virgin olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, rolled and torn basil leaves, sprinkle with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Quick Caprese : Cherry Tomato Basil Ciliegine Mozzarella Salad

ENJOY!