Under a Red Roof

Cheated, Redeemed, and Always Delighted

March 6, 2009 in Eating, Listening, Spotlighting by Colleen | 2 comments

If you are one of my Facebook friends (I’m everywhere!), then you know that I went to see Itzhak Perlman with the Oregon Symphony this past Sunday. Above are the slightly blurred lights of the marquee at the Schnitzer, and the photo below is of the lovely interior. Man was I excited about this, having bought the tickets ages ago. The hubster and I got dolled up and everything. Then came the cheat, Mr. Perlman played beautifully for exactly sixteen minutes. Sixteen. After that, he sat in the conductor’s chair and led the symphony. Now I don’t care too much for whining, but as the sweet lady in the seat ahead of me said (and she’s been going for seventy years), “I paid to hear him play, not conduct.” Amen to that!

I wish I didn’t feel this way because the music was quite good and the rest of the players very talented in their own right, but, honestly, I’d rather cozy up on the sofa and listen to my favorite Schubert CD set, which I’ll tell you about in just a minute.

However, now is about redemption, and that is thanks to the bar at Higgins, my very favorite in town. After the symphony disappointment, we walked rather swiftly up the Park Blocks, hoping the place wouldn’t be packed. Thankfully, we were quicker than the rest of the bunch, nabbing the last booth. I ordered a Maker’s Ginger and felt much better, not that the experience drove me to drink. I’m not that kind of person, but when in Rome or a good bar, I do enjoy a cocktail.

Then, as is always the case, we enjoyed impeccable service and some pretty stellar food: smoked Northwest seafood (sturgeon, black cod, and salmon), a delicious salad, house made pickles, and a key lime tart with a hot pepper marmalade (the perfect balance to the sweet filling). I savored every last bite! Thank you Higgins for making our okay night at the symphony a super night on the town!

Now for the Spotlight I promised. It is Friday, after all.

I am a girl who likes all kinds of music, good music that is. Jazz, rock, funk, ska, rap, punk, country, classical, opera – if it is done well, I am all for it! So it should come as no surprise that today’s spotlight is on a classical composer, the always delightful Franz Schubert. He is one of those great prolific writers – composing over 1000 works in his short thirty-one years on this earth (1797-1828). I get a little weepy thinking that what I am listening to is nearly 200 years old. That’s something.

As I am a person who much prefers cheeriness over gloom, the Complete Works for Piano and Strings of Franz Schubert fits me like a glove. Robert Schumann famously said of Schubert’s Piano Trio in B-flat, Opus 99: “One glance and the troubles of our human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again.”

I could not agree more. This is the perfect music for a sunny day or one where the clouds make you wish for it. Additionally, the total playing time for both discs is more than two hours and twenty minutes. You can easily while away an afternoon or evening, happily dancing about. Give it a try; I have on more than one occasion and am much better for it.

Kenny!

March 5, 2009 in Learning, Quoting by Colleen | Permalink

So this bit of weirdness is a farewell. I have been instructed by my naturopath to give up sugar. Bye, bye VooDoo Doughnuts, cherry pie, chocolate cake, butterscotch pudding! Bye bye Junior Mints, Turkish delight, gummy bears! You were wonderful, and I loved you well.

I’ve stocked my pantry with dried fruit, and I’ve got these fine words to live by:

Badness you can get easily, in quantity: the road is smooth, and it lies close by. But in front of excellence the immortal gods have put sweat, and long and steep is the way to it, and rough at first. But when you come to the top, then it is easy, even though it is hard.

Hesiod, Works and Days

I CAN DO THIS!

Crazy Words and Bunco

March 2, 2009 in Cooking + Baking, Learning, Loving by Colleen | 3 comments

Okay, as someone who writes for a “living,” I feel like a total dork, but did you know that bimonthy can mean twice monthly OR every other month? What?! I’ve only used it to express twice monthly, but now, I will be extra careful to avoid any sort of confusion because there is a mighty big difference between twenty-four and six. Oy. I am just reeling. As someone with a deep appreciation for language and words, to say that I am disappointed to learn this is an understatement. What kind of nutter butter decided this?

Anyway, You’re probably wondering why this even matters. Well, I was starting to write a post about how I gather my friends up every other month for Bunco, but thought, surely there’s a word for that and did a little internet search. There you go. I’ve done the disappointing leg work for all of us.

As I was saying, I gather the lovely ladies to my house bimonthly, and we chat, roll the dice (most of the time), drink, eat, and are generally quite merry, often whooping and hollering with delight at our luck or lack of it. We are a wonderful group of beautiful, smart, funny, caring, and talented ladies. We love life, children (though I am the only one without any – they don’t hold it against me :), a good time, and a slice of cake.

About the cake, my dear friend Carolyn requested that I share the recipe from last Friday’s gathering. It is quite rich, a little slice going a long way, and delicious, too. I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of it, but we gobbled it up before I had the chance. Also, I have no photos of the lovely ladies themselves, well, save one, but I didn’t think Mara and Amber would want to be singled out like that, so, instead, I’ve got one of the table I set for the festivities. The tablecloth is the one I got from my adventure at The Bins, and the miniature daffodils are from our yard. I’ll get a picture of all of the ladies next time. I’m sure Greg won’t mind coming down in between whoops and hollers to capture our collective beauty for the ages and the blogosphere.

Anyway, the recipe is adapted from my very favorite dessert cookbook by the late Richard Sax, Classic Home Desserts:

Fabulous Flourless Chocolate Cake

Cake:

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 stick butter, cut into pieces, softened

6 large eggs: 2 whole, 4 divided

3/4 cup sugar

For flavor, pick one or two of the following:

2 tablespoons brandy or Grand Marnier

1 t cinnamon

Grated zest of one orange

Whipped Cream Topping:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, well chilled

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350. Line the bottom of an 8″ or 9″ spring form pan with a round of wax paper. Do not butter the pan. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or bowl set over hot water. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter until melted; set aside.

Whisk the two whole eggs and the four egg yolks with 1/2 cup of the the sugar, just until blended. Whisk in the warm chocolate mixture. Whisk in your optional flavoring – cinnamon, brandy, Grand Marnier, or orange zest. Carolyn, for Bunco, I used the cinnamon.

In another bowl, beat the four egg whites until foamy. Slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until the whites form soft mounds that hold their shape but are not stiff. Stir about 1/4 of the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it; gently fold in the remaining whites, being careful not to deflate them. Pour the batter into the pan; smooth the top.

Bake until the top of the cake is puffed and cracked and the center is no longer wobbly; 35-45 minutes. It will still look pretty moist, so do not overbake.

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack; the cake will look like a crater, complete with a sunken center and high sides. It ain’t pretty!

Whipped Cream Topping:

At serving time, whip the cream with powdered sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Fill the crater of the cake and serve. Also, be careful not to eat the wax paper you used to line the pan. It disguises itself rather well, but if you pay attention, it can be peeled away as you slice the cake. Enjoy!

13,780 Reasons to Sit In Wild Wonder

March 1, 2009 in Being, Thinking by Colleen | 1 comment

This past weekend, after contemplating it for some time, I asked the dear hubster to venture a guess as to how many days we’d been alive, independently or collectively. As is his custom when I ponder such notions, he smiled tenderly and said, “I have no idea.” We changed the subject without any further investigation, but the thought lingered in my mind. Then, thanks to my marvelous friend serendipity, the habit of being posted how many days she has graced the earth, along with the place I could complete the calculation for myself (and you too!).

In these times of enormous human populations and gigantic budget deficits, digits increasing seemingly exponentially, my number feels a little small, but when I think about it in terms of what it is – actually being alive – I become quite giddy. That is 13,780 days of living, breathing, loving, laughing and experiencing the joy that accompanies occupying this precious and sometimes mysterious skin.

The more I sit with it, the more the glory of my days shimmers and expands into a large and luminous ball glimmering on the horizon, energy that wants to spread sweetness and light everywhere it goes.

That is me. These are my days.

Just think:

Every single day has had a sunrise and a sunset. Every one! Oh goodness, I swoon at all the marvelous reds, pinks, purples, and blues that have filled the sky!

Every single night, there have been beautiful stars, even if they were obscured by clouds – Orion, the Pleadies, Castor and Pollux, Cassiopeia, and the rest of the heavenly assemblage.

Every single minute of every single hour, people have died and been born; some I have known; most I have not.

Just wonder:

How many gibbous moons, eyelash slivers, and full orbs of evening light?

How many steps, hops, skips, dashes, and leaps?

How many delicious meals, slices of pie?

How many kisses, hugs, and cuddles?

How many tears, sobs, and cries?

How many songs sung and heard?

I sit here, incredulous at all that has happened in my humble collection of days, all that I know, all I have yet to learn, all that I can only dream about. I ponder what lies just around the corner or on day 15,000 (July 4, 2012). No matter what, I am confident and rather sanguine about this marvelous gift, how lovely just to be alive!