Day 2 Day radishes

September 28/How much does my husband love me?

My husband has a cell phone, but it is for him to call, and others to leave messages.  He has his life.  For a second day in a row I went on a photo shoot.  There was a possibility that he was going to go fish somewhere that afternoon.  But he said that he would keep his cell phone on. I was much later than I ever thought I would be, so when I got in “range” I called him.  He answered, as promised.  He did go fishing.  Later, he told me he was in the river fishing.
Oh, let me count the ways. 

September 27/ A Holiday for Two

Before I forget. There is a new Richard Russo book out just yesterdayBRIDGE OF SIGHS .

I paid full price for the hardback, as it will easily go around the family. There will be a lot of reviews on it this weekend. I have not read any reviews. But I like the cover and that is enough for me.

Wednesday my husband took me on a holiday. At night from out our living room windows we see house lights over on Whidbey Island. I always wonder about those houses across the way. How do you get there? Can they see me? Should I think about those people at all. At my last house I made up imaginary stories about the lives of people who lived in the houses across Agate Pass. I was told that Danny DeVito was building the huge house across the way. The houses that I now talk about now are much farther and a lot less intimate.

My husband drove me to the Outlet Mall where I bought a purse. Michael cringed when I told him. The only purses that he knows were at the COACH store. But he lucked out.

We ate lunch at Ivars, and then took the ferry  over to Whidbey, where we got off and traveled along the east shore of the island. We passed the sweet town of Langley. I did not realize it, but there were some pretty fancy houses on Whidbey, not your navy housing. The weather was warm and clear. We could watch our own island,  and we could discuss what we saw there. We sparred about which group of houses were our neighborhood. I said stop. I got out of the car with my 12 zoom camera and I found our house. This is exactly what I wanted to find! We drove north along the inlets, past the tiny town of Coupeville, the county seat, by the Naval base, over Deception Pass. We drove 168 miles to look at something less than 12 miles away.   And this is what you have to look forward to when you are sixty-eight, almost sixty-nine.

September24/ Michael Totten

Michael Totten link http://www.michaeltotten.com/ is a fine site. I listened to a part of the September 18th entry being read on the radio. It lifted my heart. It is a long photo essay about Ramadi, Iraq, and what is happening there. The photos are great and the message is encouraging. Regardless of your political persuasion, I think it deserves to be read. My entry is short, because the article is long. 

September 23/ Pie oh my

Currently I am dotty about pies. I never really learned how to make pies. When I last went to California I had a friend teach me about crusts. Pie crust is like bread, it is basic and that means that anyone should be able to do it. But it is elusive. As far as I can tell, the secret is in how much water you use, and how much you scrunch the ingredients together. The day before my cataract removal I was in Barnes and Noble, and there I purchased the book PIE, by Ken Haedrich. I figured that I could make pies with poor eye sight. Also the book was in big print. This book has 300 recipes. It explains that you can make pies all year round, with ingredients, a lot of which you may already have. This book, has at least one recipe that I guarantee you will not have to go to the grocery to make as long as you have flour, butter or Crisco. It is good to roll your crust on floured piece of waxed paper curled side down. The waxed paper is approximately the diameter of your pie and therefore easy to judge. When you want to put the crust in your pan, you place the pie plate upside down on the crust. Then you put your hand under the waxed paper, turn everything upside down and peel off the paper. He also tells you how to keep the paper from slipping as you roll, the most expensive of which is a silipat pad, or you can just dampen the counter. Americans eat 19 ½ pounds of apples a year, while Europeans eat 46 ½ pounds a year. This month the apples are terrific.

September 22/Three ten to Yuma

Sunday we went to see the movie, 3:10 to Yuma.  A remake of  1950’s movie with Glen Ford playing the Russell Crowe character, and Van Hefflin playing the Christain Bale part. Peter Fonda  has a supporting roll and Luke Wilson has  a minute part.  A huge shoot’em up.

It is the story of a wounded soldier of the Civil War who has moved west with his family using up all of his  government wounded money to buy a farm.  But the weather is bad, the cows are thirsty and dying  and the railroad wants his property.  Enter bad guy  Russell Crowe and his band of killers.  By now he has robbed so many trains, and killed so many people, that Pinkerton is out to get him. Christian Bale takes the job of getting momentarily captured Crowe to the 3:10 train in Yuma, which goes to the penitentiary. Christian can claim the reward money and make payment on his land. 

I am a fan of Russell Crowe, regardless of how he treated Meg Ryan.  The fact remains that he can take any kind of a role, and make the character great.  This movie is no exception.   Crowe says that he assumed in this part that he was supposed to be the best bad guy, and he played it with confidence, and some pride. 

I had never seen Christian Bale,  but he was excellent as the farmer.  Equal to Crowe. 

I grew up in the era of cowboy movies and it is the sort of movie I go to regardless of how it is reviewed.  It was refreshing to have a cowboy shoot’em up to attend.   

Coming up, Russell Crowe is in the movie with Denzel Washington, AMERICAN GANGSTER.  Here Crowe plays the good guy, or at least the law, and Washington is the gangster.  It will be interesting to watch that chemistry.

Another movie was previewed, WE OWN THE NIGHT, with Robert Duvall, Mark Wahlberg, and Joaquin Phoenix.  Duvall has two sons, one a cop, one a gangster.  I am a little tired of  sons, good and bad,  plot line, but I like Robert Duvall, and the cast is very talented. 

My book club read the prize winning book, ATONEMENT, by Ian Mc Wean more than a year ago, and now the movie is coming out this fall.  I am really anxious to see it, as I am not sure what I read, the book actually being literary, and I was too lazy to dig deeply. The trailers are cinematographily  (which is apparently not a word) beautiful. Kiera Knightly plays a female lead.  And although I know the ending, I am not sure what it was. I am hoping the movie is more conclusive than the book. 

I am adding this photo appropriate of nothing aside the fact that I like the visual. 

September 21/ C day plus one

Thirty years ago my great aunt had a cataract removed, and laid in bed for two weeks with sand bags at the side of her head, so she could not move. Fifteen years later my Dad had cataracts removed and I had to go take care of him for days. Eight years ago I had my right eye dealt with, and it was okay, but I could not read for a month. Yesterday, WOW. It was easy. They first give you a sedative, which was pretty sweet. After that you get a shot near your eye. Then you WALK into the operating room. They talk nicely to you, cut a minute slit in the eye ball, take out the mystery cataract, and slip in the new lens which opens like an umbrella in your eye. You tell them how much you like the pillow under your knees, and can I take the pillow home. Then you are walked to a chair and rest. They tell you that the operation took 13 &½ minutes, which was 2 & ½ minutes longer than the usual, because they dealt with my stigmatism. A patch was on my eye and I should take it off at 3:30, and start the eye drops. I take off the patch at 3:30. I can see only light. Scary. But I put in the drops and I can see shapes. By nine o’clock I can see a lot. Sometimes double, and sometimes in the wrong place. But I could see> This morning I can still see. I can almost read if I put on my store bought reader. I am thrilled. It is almost certain, I can drive with out glasses if need be. I am writing this without glasses to somewhat mixed reviews. But it should improve. The miracle of modern medicine.

September 20/Fall food

I love cooking in the fall.  I am ready to start now, but it is a long,long  time to next summer. I want to cook the fall food, but I am trying to put the brakes on, and think there is still more time for grilling.  The simple meals of  summer are where you throw something on the grill, make a salad, slice a home grown tomato, and that's that.  So why do I want to make it hard on myself?

The autumn foods are more complex.  I grew up in a family of casseroles, so I like the mixed foods of stews and braises.  These can be either very sophisticated, or homey depending on the length of time cooked and/or number of ingredients. I like a pot of chili, or a dish of black beans and rice.  But I also like the quick sauteing of a chop, or piece of chicken with herbs and lemon.  This year I am going to try to cook more whole grains.

The best recipe(at least in the vegetable division) I made all summer long was a sauteed ratatouille .It is from page 56 of this month's Fine Cooking Magazine.  I thought sauteed, would be quick, but it was a half of afternoon standing at the stove.  Here is the idea which I think you might be able to feel your way through.  Choose some, and hopefully all, from the following veggies:eggplant (sliced and salted and left to drain in a colander ),zucchini sliced, red peppers sliced, onions sliced, 1/4 cup chopped garlic,  tomatoes chunked. Saute in olive oil all of these vegetable separately, except for doing pepper with onions, and garlic with tomatoes. This might sound speedy, but take your time, some of them take 20 minutes. You want the vegetables to brown.  Put some rosemary in with the zucchini, and thyme in with the peppers.  As you finish each vegetable put the cooked veggies in a colander over a bowl.  Keep adding to the bowl as you finish. Do the eggplant last.  Let the vegetables rest for thirty minutes. and then mix them in a bowl.  Reduce the reserved juices a little and add some squirts of lemon.  If you like vegetables, this is a GREAT end of summer dish. Leftovers can be used on the top of pizza. 

September 19/ C day

Tomorrow I am having a cataract removed. Therefore I am unsure as to what my computer middle vision will be for a while.  So for the rest of the week I may not be writing.  But I do have archives that I will publish and  blogs I have written ahead.  I am waiting until late this afternoon to call the Shanghais to find out about the Typhoon which yesterday I called a Monsoon.

This is apple month. Four years ago we planted an apple tree for my grandson, Gabriel.   At last there are apples, and I sent a box of them with his grandfather today for Gabe.  if you are in Wenachee, Washington http://www.bestapples.com, there is a very nice display by the apple council. This is the month to be eating the  eating varieties.  i just had an apple off of Gabe's tree.  Yum!

September 18/ Meanwhile in Shanghai

A tropical storm is headed for China in or around Shanghai. School has been cancelled for their Wednesday, our Tuesday.  Several hundred people have been evacuated from the low lying areas. My daughter says that they are going to have an intense family work party and eat popcorn.  I do not believe that, as it is very hard to do anything in a high wind storm, except wrap your arms around your self , and listen to the gusts.  When I lived on the California coast we would not sleep at night at house  on the hill because the house was shaking so.   

I am concerned about my Shanghai family.  They are not the evacuees.  But this strange house, that they live in, does not seem to be prepared for much of anything. If the first floor floods with a minor amount of rain, bringing tadpoles in the toilet, what about a monsoon, maybe the unspeakable?  Then there is the case of her neighbor next door, whose kitchen ceiling fell down. . .  In a monsoon, a whole floor could come down.  Or a house. I hope they have laid in food supplies, because I am skeptical about their return to electricity. 

The fifteenth was tax day( which in this case means likely the 17th), and another one comes in October. Life is pretty quiet here at tax time. By that I mean that we are somewhat tight lipped. Food, with the exception of peach pie, does not taste good. USC is thomping every one; the Huskies tank. The sun is setting at accelerating speed. The dining room table needs two more coats. Fishing sites were barren. There is only one thing that saved the day. The raunchy movie, BLADES OF GLORY. This movie got hideous reviews because it is a bad movie. On every level. None-the-less, I am embarrassed to say, I went to bed laughing. My kitchen faucet is installed. The first faucet returned, and the plumber is sending a bill for the second. Some things just never end. Picture to follow.