Christine Cooks: life

Showing posts with label life. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Pause to Remember September 11, 2001

Join Mimi Lenox and thousands of others on this day to pause and remember.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Coming Out From Under a Rock . . .

. . . at least I hope so.

It has been awhile since I've shown up here. And to be honest, what posts I have written in the past seven months did not have my heart in them. I didn't know what to say. What to write. Simply carrying on as though nothing had happened is not my style. When changes occur, when life throws punches, I want to share. I am an explainer. But you know, some things are too private.
So I was quiet.

When I read the recent post of a blogger for whom I have tremendous respect, there it was: A way with words to re-enter the world of recipes, stories and photos without spilling my guts. In other words, come out from under my rock. Because make no mistake, I've been in hiding.

So now, with a bit of trepidation, I will begin again, trying out my voice, here on these pages.

This minute, there is a whole rabbit braising away in my slow-cooker. I didn't mean to be a copycat, in fact had forgotten all about the recipe when I pulled the rabbit out of the freezer, and I certainly chose my own ingredients for my own reasons but, all the same, something was resonating in my culinary sub-conscious so I've got to credit and thank Lucy for my inspiration - on so very many levels - for the recipe to follow . . .

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas

Although 2011 has been a year of minimal recipes and posts, many of you dear readers have stuck with me despite my non-productivity, for which I am sincerely grateful. I hope to return to the delights of culinary activity here at the turn of the new year. Meantime, I hope the holidays are bringing you comfort and joy and that you are looking forward to a bright new year in 2012.

PS - Don't know what happened to my header graphic; do know I've got to fix it.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Christine Cooks is Six years Old Today

Today I begin my 7th year of writing this blog.

I greet this significant milestone with mixed emotions.

This morning I went on an interesting journey through my blog posts all the way back to February 2005, wincing at some of the writing and the early photography (or lack thereof), laughing at some of the recipes, smiling at others that I know are keepers.

Mostly what I see is a genuine yearning to eat well and be healthy in the process.

Sometimes that endeavor has taken me down some dubious paths: egg substitute instead of whole eggs; trans fat free margarine instead of good butter. Oy.

Grains or no grains?

Full, reduced or low fat?

Sugar or no sugar?

Splenda? (Well, yeah, it's my weakness.)

Omnivore, vegetarian, vegan?

One could get whiplash reading some of my posts.

I have often thought to delete the more wince-producing ones but then the documenting of the journey wouldn't be complete. And for me the journey is what makes the story interesting.

Life is an experiment.

We try things on, wear them for awhile to see how we like them, sometimes casting them off according to what is fashionable, sometimes making them a permanent part of our wardrobe. Of course I'm speaking metaphorically about food.

What I have learned about food is not so much all things in moderation as eat what works for you in order for you to live a healthy life - "healthy" being key.

Some need to be vegan or vegetarian. Some need to avoid fat, salt, and sugar. Some need to avoid gluten, wheat in particular. I've tried all of these things. They are on the pages of this blog, sometimes written a bit pedantically. I don't apologize. It's all part of the journey.

And after giving it some thought, I've decided to continue this journey for a bit longer. I still have things to say, food to cook and share.

As I move into year seven I know I'll mostly concentrate on recipes that will reflect my goal to eat food that works for me in order for me to live a healthy life.

I may quote Michael Pollan at times.

And I'll try not to pontificate.

Bear with me.

Oh - yes, there will be Splenda.

Some things I won't give up.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

So a Guy Walks into a Diner . . .

"F - U - N - E - M ?"

"S, V - F - M ."

"F - U - N - E - X ?"

"S, V - F - X ."

"O - K , M - N - X !"

I couldn't have been more than 10 years old when my mother first recited that little scenario to me.

I seem to be channeling her this morning though I can't say why.

I had M . . .

I had X . . .

There you have it.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

January Downtime

Dear Readers,

I am taking the month of January off from blogging. All is well, just re-grouping. I will continue to post photos on my garden blog, Raven Ridge Gardens; I hope you will pay a visit there. I'll be back here ready to cook come February.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

We Will Return You to Your Regularly Scheduled Program . . .

. . . when I return in a few weeks.

I know.

Just when I start rubbing my hands together, thinking Summer! I'll have more time to cook, more time to

invent recipes, more time to blog . . .

Then I leave. Then I come home for

all of one day,

then I leave again.

I'm a bad blogger.

Sigh.

The recipe that goes with the photos will be revealed when I return. It's a fun way to grill fish.

See ya.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Pausing to Remember my Brother

Dear Readers,

I've been struggling with how to let you know the reason for my silence without seeming to be soliciting condolences, but eloquent words are not forthcoming so I'll just blurt it out: My brother passed away on Tuesday, June 8th. For almost a month prior to that, my head just wasn't into creating new recipes and all the stuff that food bloggers do. I'm not sure it is yet. You can see a small tribute to him, if you would like, on my garden blog. The flowers are from my garden. My brother would have liked them.

I suppose I could write and write and write about how I'm feeling right now, and believe me I've got a lot of feelings. But the words won't come and it seems that the process must be silent. So I'll just take the time I need and get back here when I am able. I know you will understand.

The farmers market is in full swing and produce abounds. I'm sure I'll be cooking soon.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Retirement Can Be Messy

Putting order into chaos is messy business. What initially prevails is more chaos. And that can be very disconcerting when what you are trying to accomplish is order. Many of you will know of what I speak - conceptually.

I actually have no excuse for succumbing to chaos other than that I am often easily overwhelmed when faced with too many decisions and, evidently, too much time in which to make them. If I look back on my life's history, it's easy to see that I accomplished the most when I had the least amount of time in which to do the accomplishing. (There's a Murphy's Law in there somewhere, I'm sure of it.)

This week marks a rather distinctive milestone: I have just gained more personal time by dropping down to a three-day work week (I retired, then immediately began a curtailed work schedule) which will, I am sure, after the order sets in, result in more free time for me to pursue the things that retired, or semi-retired, people do. For me that would be recipe development, cooking, photography and the constant learning thereof, gardening, blogging, travel ... I have a long list.

So you'd think, with the onset of my first four consecutive days off, that I would just get to the business of doing all those things that I love while catching up on some of those not so pleasant chores that can get shoved into corners waiting for when I have the "time" to do them.

Hmpf.

Laziness set in almost immediately. What I put on the list of things to do for the first day quickly got moved to the list of things I would do on the second day, which then got moved to the list of the things I would do on the third day. And now it's the fourth day. I haven't even answered comments; something I find as abhorrent as telling your best friend he/she should go suck eggs.

The laundry piled up while I was outside sitting with my face lifted to the (finally!) warm sun. Spiders made cobwebs in corners while I took leisurely walks. Dust settled on tabletops and house plants while I pulled a weed here, mowed a strip of grass there, talked to my horse, my chickens, my dog; anything but catch up with chores, cook something exciting, research a recipe, take a spectacular photo.

Waiting to be planted tomato seedlings wilted in the greenhouse while I read a cooking magazine. Dinner didn't get started until 9 PM while I spent hours in that zone you can get lost in while looking up something on the Internet, then forgetting what it was you were looking for in the first place.

It's the fourth day and here I sit with a list a mile long, facing my three-day work week then a long weekend out of town from which I will return to go straight to my three-day work week, then another long weekend out of town. See what I mean? Chaos. For this I (semi) retired?

Recipes are waiting in the wings. Maybe with the looming time scrunch I'll get some posted. But first I have to go put order into that chaotic pile of laundry. Then maybe brush away a cob web or two.

One baby step at a time ...

Have a great week!

Friday, January 1, 2010

A New Year, A New Decade - Happy 2010!

One day when I was quite young, school in our small town was closed because of heavy flooding . The water covered the street and came several feet up our lawn which was elevated from the street by about 4 feet.

I have no memory of it, but it must have been raining for days for the water to rise that high. We kids stayed in the house oblivious to the havoc outside, and played; happy to not be in school.

The thing that I remember vividly about this small snapshot in my life is that the rain finally did stop and the clouds broke, spilling sunlight over everything including a vivid rainbow that hovered in the west, down Amherst Drive.

My mother must have made a sound because I looked up at her and she had tears in her eyes.

Why are you crying, I asked.

Because the rainbow is so beautiful, she responded.

Why do we get rainbows, I asked.

It's God's way of telling us that everything is going to be okay, she said.

I'll never forget that moment. Possibly because I found it comforting; possibly because it was so unlike my mother to say such a thing (she was not a religious person in any conventional sense and she swore like a trooper. I am very much like my mother.)

The reason I tell you this is because I've been thinking about where we find ourselves on this day, launching into a new year and decade amidst domestic and global troubles and uncertainty. Some of us not knowing when and from where the next paycheck will come. Some of us living on the streets. Some of us living in and with war, violence, abuse. Some of us barely keeping body and soul together. Some of us starving. Some of us cold.

It's a grim picture. And yet, humankind continues on.

I once had a sociology professor who, on the first day of class, said that besides the animal instinct to survive, human beings exist on faith. I thought he meant religion and God and immediately dismissed him. But he went on to explain that it is a kind of faith that we hope and believe that we will continue to exist from day to day for all of our lives, and eat and sleep and love and have children and aspire to goals, doing both great and small things.

I don't know if I would put it just the way that professor did, but as I grow older and look at life from a more existential point of view, I do believe that the things that sustain us most in this world truly are faith, hope and love.

And if we can keep those three words in the forefront of our minds as we go about our day to day living, and if we can keep those three words in the forefront of our hearts when we think about or see the plight of those less fortunate, and if we can keep those three words in the forefront of our deeds (which includes who we vote into office) when we interact not just with other human beings but with all living things, including our planet, then I can't help but believe that everything is going to be okay.

My mother told me so.

Cook's Notes:

Love and gratitude to all my food blogger friends who sustain me in this whacky endeavor of blogging.

In 2010 Christine Cooks will get a new look and, come March, I will have a bit more time in my life to devote to this blog that I love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh7D2g5v-Sg
Here's a little something to watch, if you would like. And, please, I'm not promoting Starbucks.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Farmers Market Fruits; Kitchen Counter Still Life with Sunrise

Sunday morning after a Saturday farmers market; early morning sunlight just beginning to come through the kitchen window. How could I not take a photo?

Coming soon . . . A few recipes from over the summer that I somehow didn't find the time to post.

Now I'm going to make the time.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Ashland Calls

I'm away for the long weekend. The Bard is calling. Friends are waiting.

Back soon.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Down For The Count . . .

. . . hopefully not for long

Well, this is a fine howda-ya-do: Not only have I not been posting any recipes in what seems like forever, I missed my blogaversary - again.

I have to tell you that winter is not my favorite season (although I often fool people by trying to point out great things about it) and sometimes I can get downright morose. I think it's the darkness. Or the cold. Or the wet. Probably all three. Whatever it is, it can lay me low.

I do have a few recipes waiting for me to get my butt in gear and post. Like that cassoulet I've been promising.

And a simple, delicious lemon tart that anyone can make.

I know I'll get them up soon, but right now I want all my blogger friends to commiserate (begin playing tiny violin here) with me because my small-but-mighty Canon PowerShot SD450 Digital Elph is broken, and so is my heart.

I may have to send it away for a while to be fixed, if it can be fixed. Or I may have to find a new one. Whichever happens, it seems now that every where I look there's a photo begging to be taken.

Especially of beautiful vegan food that son Jeff has been preparing for us.

And the daffodils that are beginning to bloom.

And the tiny green leaves budding on the red current.

Sigh.

What do you do for the winter blues?

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

WELCOME MR. PRESIDENT ! !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd9xU8cw1JE

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Sher

Isn't anyone just a little bit angry?

I woke up this morning with the full intention of joining the rest of Sher's blogger friends to write a tribute.

Instead, I went to a neglected flower bed and started pulling weeds. As I yanked them from the ground I thought of Sher and of what I could write in tribute to her. Instead I continued to pull weeds. Ever more forcefully, throwing them further and further over my shoulder. With a vengeance I dug out a badly placed rose that I never much liked. It's roots were a tangled mess; no wonder it didn't thrive.

A few times a year Sher and I would have marathon talks on the phone. I delighted in her humor, her story-telling ability, her love of the animals who found her so they could be taken care of, her passion for gardening and cooking. Mostly I cherished the friendship that was forming. It didn't matter to her that we hadn't met face to face. We were friends.

Sher and I feigned jealousy of each other: She of me because blackberries grow rampant on my property; me of her because she lived in the city where I grew up and picked ripe, red tomatoes from her garden by mid-June.

She was looking forward to meeting up with Kalyn and I in San Francisco several weekends ago. This was the year when she thought she would finally be able to make it and she was very excited, as were we, at the prospect of us all finally meeting face to face. And, as we all know, she didn't make it. She died of a heart attack on the morning of the very day she was to meet with us.

Doesn't this make you just a little bit angry?

Before I knew it I'd weeded a 20-foot bed and dispatched with two plants, tossing them on the compost pile without a second thought. Breathing hard, my face, hands and the knees of my jeans streaked with red dirt, I looked back at the flower bed and felt a calm come over me. Yes, she died. Way too soon. And yes, there is a hole in what we call the blogosphere that will never, can never, be filled. And yes, after the shock then grief of losing this wonderful person and friend, I realized that I was really angry at the unfairness of it all.

The lily had been in a too-small pot on the front porch for far too long. I've just put it in the ground where I'll walk by it often on my way to the greenhouse to check on my as-yet unripe tomatoes. Lightly scented, ethereal in color, this is a lily I know Sher would have liked. My way, I guess, of both remembering her and saying good-bye.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Happy Anniversary

Mr CC and Me

24 years today

And going strong

Copyright © 2005-2008, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

A Little Spring Break

Some of you may be wondering where I've gone, or been, or why I'm not posting.

Or maybe not . . .

I'm going to tell you anyway.

What with working full time, keeping up with the house, husband, critters and garden, posting has taken a temporary back seat.

So I guess I have to admit to myself that I've been taking a break.

Admit it so I don't flog myself daily for not blogging.

Meantime, even though I don't always leave comments, I am staying in touch with you as I read and enjoy your blogs.

And I will get back with the program. Really I will.

Sometime soon.

In fact, this little post just might do the trick.

We'll see.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Spring Vegetable Soup For Weekend Herb Blogging

A direct consequence of my having gone back to work full time is that I don't cook as much (or at least not much that hasn't been done before.) Which results in my not posting as much. Which eventually results in the DT's brought on by blog withdrawal. This week then, just when I was giving myself a good talking to about getting back to cooking and posting recipes, I dislocated a tendon that runs down a groove between shoulder and elbow (the name of which eludes me), rendering my right arm useless and me in blinding pain. I didn't even know that tendon existed let alone that it could be dislocated. Moreover, I'm not really sure exactly how I did it, as the pain didn't start until long after I'd thrown my sweet horse her evening flake of hay (which I've been doing for many years so go figure.)

So now my excuse is not so much that I'm working full time, but that it's hard to cook with one and a half arms (the elbow to fingertips part works just fine as long as the upper arm is glued to my ribs.) Quel dilemma. Coinciding with this tendon fiasco is the fact that Mr CC is away at a conference, offering sympathy by phone yet unable to give any help at all.

Even with full use of body parts, there is something about being home alone that quells the more creative cook side of me. Throw injury into the mix and I definitely turn into a simpler-is-better-certainly-easier-and less-painful kind of cook. Take this soup for instance: Thawed chicken stock brought to a simmer with fresh, organically grown vegetables tossed in plus garbanzo beans and there you have a healthy one-pot meal that takes just a few minutes to prepare, with minimal clean up. If you make enough of this it will carry you into the next day's lunch when you can sprinkle it with a chopped, hard cooked egg.

I finished a book recently that talked about the need for Americans to eat less processed, packaged, refined foods and eat more whole foods, especially those containing omega-3 fatty acids. Flax seeds, walnuts and salmon are the most well-known foods high is this essential nutrient, but leafy greens such as spinach, kale and collards are also a good source as are strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower and scallops.

Chard, beet tops, broccoli and spinach came from my garden just moments before being washed, chopped or shredded and tossed into the soup pot. The rest of the vegetables came organically grown and snapping fresh from our local co-op. I had a small amount of Neiman Ranch Uncured Applewood Smoked Ham which, as you may imagine, gave the soup a lovely smokey depth. The gruyère practically begged to be added ... I couldn't say no.

Spring Vegetable Soup

Christine's original recipe

Ingredients:

4 to 6 cups home made chicken stock or a good packaged organic stock

20 shelling peas (about), shelled

1 bunch asparagus, stalks peeled if tough, cut into bite-sized pieces

Several small stalks broccoli, stalks peeled if tough, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 clove garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

2 cups thinly sliced greens, such as chard, kale, spinach and beet tops

1 can organic chickpeas (garbanzos) drained

1/3 cup each uncured (no nitrites or nitrates) ham and gruyère cheese, cubed (optional)

kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Preparation:

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer over medium heat.

Add the vegetables, garbanzos and ham, if using, and simmer until just tender.

Add the cheese, if using, and allow it to melt slightly.

Ladle into warmed bowls and serve with a delicious crusty artisan bread.

Even though I didn't add any herbs to my soup, and even though I'm not showcasing any one vegetable, I'm sending this post along to my friend Kalyn as my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging - because this soup features a mix of fresh vegetables that are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, an essential and woefully lacking ingredient in so many Americans' diets. Kalyn created WHB over two years ago and it's still one of the most popular food events in the blogosphere. Click here to see how to enter, and while you're at it, peruse Kalyn's blog for some über healthy and tasty recipes. And if you'd like to see another dish that is loaded with omega-3's, look at what Kirsten of Kirsten's Home Cookingcame up with recently. Zowie!

And by the way, my arm is healing, somewhat slowly but nicely, and I should be back to cooking up a storm soon.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Simona's Room With A View

This is the view that my friend Simona sees while seated at her desk in her cozy office space warmed by a cheery woodstove. I took this photo this morning, a beautiful North Coast day if ever there was one, and if I didn't also have a west-facing view, albeit one of redwoods not ocean, I would be so jealous. I have food-related items to share, just no time to share them. Soon though. Very soon.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Miles' Time

Son Miles is traveling about Europe for a month. As a mom, of course I think about him all day - where he is, what he's doing, the great sights he's seeing, etc, ad nauseum. And because I'm constantly counting on my fingers the time difference between where I am and where he is, I found this cool web site called Time and Date DOT com, where I can put a digital clock on my sidebar (see? it's just there to the left) for just about any country in the world. And now I don't have to count on my fingers - I can just click on my blog. When he moves from country to country (of course I have his itinerary), I ~~can~~ will change the clock to reflect his movement. This gives a mom comfort. Especially this mom. Grown up young man that he is, he is, after all, my baby.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Monday, May 10, 2010

Friday, January 1, 2010

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Monday, February 23, 2009

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Monday, June 16, 2008

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Friday, March 7, 2008

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Created on Feb. 19, 2005

Raven Ridge Gardens: where I get outside and play

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