Under a Red Roof

Nothing Fancy

April 15, 2009 in Admiring, Being, Eating, Loving by Colleen | 1 comment

Something that I love about the life I share with Greg is the fact that we are just happy to be together. Maybe it is the fact that we’ve been a couple for eighteen years, but we realize that there is so little we truly need from each other. We are each our own source of happiness and joy, modified by the fact there is someone truly wonderful to cuddle with each night in bed.

We have no grand expectations or idealized versions of what our life should look like. What we have is what we want and relish, every last bit: being in the same room, listening to music, watching a movie, sharing a smile, a laugh, or, in this case, a meal.

This was our Sunday dinner. Neither of us has ever outgrown the fish fillets of our youth. So we baked some up, and I made tartar sauce and rosemary (fresh from the garden!) home fries to accompany them. It certainly wasn’t anything gourmet, but, with his company, it sure felt like it. Every bite was delicious. A real treat!

Tomorrow Makes Five

April 8, 2009 in Eating by Colleen | 3 comments

Hello friends!

I thought I would give you a little update on my quest to give up sugar. The verdict is pretty darn good! Since I last wrote about it (five weeks ago tomorrow), I have had a bite of chocolate, a bite of peanut brittle, and in a far weaker moment, a slice of peach pie. However, as karma and my conscience would have it, the pie was not so good. The peaches were hard and the crust not up to snuff. Even as I ordered it, I thought, “What are you doing?” Life teaches us the way.

I think I told you that I had given up sugar before, even going for eight weeks once. Those times, however, it was with a particular end date or goal in sight, then I could have more. This time, I hope to just let it go. I am actually quite surprised at how easy it feels. It used to be that I would get a craving and fight, fight, fight it. Then I would set a time limit. Okay, Colleen, you think you want it now, so why not wait an hour or two and see what happens? I’ll tell ya – when the inner timer went off, I scrambled to the kitchen to make cookies, a cake, a pie, or sometimes, when we were out of the usual ingredients, a weird concoction only an addict would enjoy.

I wish I could say exactly what button has been pressed to make me lose the obsessive feeling, but I can’t. Now, I am enjoying fruit – fresh or dried, and when I feel a little more desperate, which thankfully isn’t that often, a glass of chocolate hemp milk (I’m also consuming very little dairy) sweetened with agave nectar or brown rice syrup. Just in case you are wondering, I haven’t replaced the sugar with artificial sweeteners either. For one, the ingredients terrify me – chlorinated sugar? Um, no thanks. Two, I’ve never liked the taste, so in the foods where I used to sprinkle sugar, like my morning bowl of grains, I use a little agave and some sort of fruit – my current favorite is dried blueberry. Yum.

I really like the ripple effect of this change. I know I’m doing something good for my body. I’ve lost weight, feel stronger, have more energy, and feel that my usual effervescence and love for creation is heightened. I sleep less without feeling groggy or crabby. The best part, however, is not having the feeling that I am missing something. I have all I need, and that includes you, my blog friends. Thanks for sharing the journey.

XO –

Colleen

Crazy Crispy Kale

March 23, 2009 in Cooking + Baking, Eating by Colleen | 1 comment

How’s that for a bit of illiteration? Even better is the crispy kale itself. Sorry, the above picture does not actually contain any, but I thought I’d at least try to make your mouth water a little. That was dinner on Saturday, Mediterranean style – beef with a sherry reduction, sauteed onion and jalapeno, hummus made with butter beans because we were out of garbanzos (try it – yum!), and assorted crunchiness including pickles that I made last summer. Gosh they’re good.

Anyway, to the crispy kale. I saw this recipe while I was rowing in the basement. Jacques Pepin made some on his More Fast Food My Way. I was very intrigued and luckily had some kale in the fridge.

1 small bunch kale, ribs removed, and torn into 2″ pieces

olive oil

salt

Preheat your oven to 250. Toss the kale in enough olive oil to lightly coat it, then sprinkle with salt. Place a rack on a baking sheet and evenly distribute the kale. Do your best to make sure the pieces don’t overlap because where they do, it won’t be as crispy. We want crispy!

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. The kale will shrink up and get very dark. Remove from the oven. Your choice here – start snacking or wait until cool. We went to town the moment we took them out. Lighter than a chip, crispy, and crazy good! Unless you have multiple racks and baking sheets to make more than one batch, the bummer part is that it is devoured within minutes. Enjoy!

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.

On the Streets Where We Live

February 17, 2009 in Eating, Exploring, Loving by Colleen | 3 comments

Golly, yesterday was a banner day! Not only was it a holiday (thank you Presidents), but a sunny and dry, perfect for being outdoors kind of day. Greg and I took full advantage and walked to our favorite Asian restaurant, Stickers, where we enjoyed our usual Scallion Pancake, Kung Pao Chicken, and Satay Sampler, before heading north to New Seasons for a slice of cake and coffee, and home again, collecting four varieties of pine cone, assorted plant life, groceries, and left-overs along the way .

For fun, Greg made a map of our journey – almost nine miles of beautiful Portland splendor!

Here is what we saw while we were out and about:

The lovely and rather idiosyncratic Reed College – a study in contrasts, yes indeed.

A fitting display of President’s Day patriotism on Milwaukie Avenue. I love America and this town.

This sight is always worth a chuckle while noshing at Stickers. I admire the owner’s fantastic sense of humor, but not nearly as much as the handsome man. I’m no fool.

The lovely old clock for William R. Johnson jewelers.

We don’t tend to enjoy walking on very busy streets, preferring the sound of birds and our own voices over the din of automobiles, but I was pleased as punch that Milwaukie was our only option after we stumbled upon this beauty. Oh my goodness! It is the finest example of a 1958 Thunderbird I have EVER seen. I was so excited that I got misty eyed. Silly girl.

Why yes, I am a tourist attraction – at least that’s what my hubby says!

Above my head was this perfect sky. Hello beautiful.

Heavens to mergatroid – a 1940’s Studebaker Champion with suicide doors!

But wait, there’s more! A gorgeous 1960 Corvette and a 1942 Chief Plymouth. Will you look at that hood ornament? How amazing is that? I thank my lucky stars for all the wonderful automobile sightings, and this isn’t even all of them. I gave the dear hubster a break and skipped snapping a photo of a rather fine example of a 1964 Ford pick-up. You’ll just have to take my word for it on that one.

After all the excitement of the cars, it was nice to come across this stand of bamboo. We stood for a few moments and enjoyed the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind. Ahh, bliss.