Recipes to share

From my Star Market days I fondly remember Kay McCarthy. She was Star Market’s spokeswoman for local TV commercials. My first day at the office I met Kay and thought I met the biggest celebrity in these parts since Julia Child! (I did see Julia shop at Mt Auburn Star) Kay would create or demonstrate recipes and she wrote at least one cookbook for Star Market. She would bring me her hand written recipes each week to typeset a recipe card that went in the stores for customers.  I always enjoyed seeing what she came up with and her kind elegant way.

I have made Kay's “Spinach and Cheese Pie” for years and it comes out perfect every time. The mushroom crust is so simple you’ll be tempted to add more to it but don’t. After the crust is made, pour the ingredients in and bake. Perfect every time.

“Family Favorite Chicken” is another Kay McCarthy recipe that my mom liked and would make often. Its good with curry but you can substitute any seasoning you like or have on hand.

“310 Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry” got its name from an apartment in Watertown we would whip up this stir fry when we had a date to impress. LOL yummy every time. Not sure if it’s a Kay recipe or from a Chinese cookbook but worth sharing. Bon appetite!

SPINACH MUSHROOM PIE

½-lb. chopped fresh mushrooms
(small pkg. sliced mushrooms then chop)

3 Tbsp. butter            ½ cup dry bread crumbs

1 ½ cups grated Swiss cheese

1 10-oz. pkg. chopped frozen spinach defrosted sprinkled w/nutmeg

6 slices bacon fried and crumbled or 6 Tbsp Hormel real bacon pieces

3 Tbsp flour

3 eggs

2/3 cup mayonnaise or miracle whip

Saute mushrooms in butter. Add bread crumbs. Press mixture in a 9-inch pie pan to form a crust. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour into pie shell. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

Family Favorite Chicken

2 Tablespoons butter                                       3 Tbsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp oil                                                        salt and pepper

3 or 4 celery sliced thin                                   dash of curry powder
1 onion chopped                                             (or any seasoning)
1 to 1 ½ cups chicken broth

Chicken breasts or tenders cut up bite size pieces

Heat butter and oil in skillet, add chicken, turning on all sides to brown. Remove from pan. Add onion, celery, sauté until a little crisp. Return chicken to pan, toss together. Sprinkle cornstarch over all and mix well. Add salt, pepper, curry (or 5 spice powder) and chicken broth, stirring until thickened. Serve with rice. 

“310” Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

1-lb. beef strips                                                3 Tbsp. oil

2 Tablespoons soy sauce                                 1 teaspoon sugar

1 Tbsp cornstarch                                            2 Tbsp sherry

1 Tbsp. oil                                                       2 Tbsp chicken broth

Broccoli

Combine soy sauce, cornstarch and 1 Tbsp. oil, pour over beef. Steam broccoli for about 2 to 3 min. Heat 3 Tbsp oil in wok or pan. Sprinkle sugar over hot oil; add beef, stir and cook. Add broccoli stir, then stir in sherry and broth. Sliced canned water chestnuts can also be added. Serve with rice.

Savory and James, product of Spain, Deluxe Dry Sherry – FINO

Keep in refrigerator, good for risotto, sauces, dips or deglazing pans.

got junk?

Blue and white with big bold letters 1 800 got junk? dump truck pulls up to the next door building claiming North America’s largest junk removal service. Full green trash bags, wood, pieces of metal clang and bang after being thrown into the wide open backside of the truck. A photo scrapbook of someone’s life falls out and scatters with all the debris. How sad I thought as my heart tugged seeing stuff thrown away. Did someone die or move and left their stuff behind. Could it be a hoarder and its time to let go of the obsession before it puts them in danger.

Made me wonder is this what happens to all our stuff eventually?

The saying one person’s junk is another’s treasure is so true. One of my favorite shows lately ‘American Pickers’ go in attics, basements, barns or storage units full of mostly old abandoned stuff looking for a gem. BANG. Another object gets thrown into the truck. Again I look out the window to see an old wooden round side table circa 1970’s being tossed in with the now full truck of junk. Haven’t they heard of trash to treasure? Shabby chic!

As a kid trash picking was an adventure! People would get rid of perfectly good items. Before recycling became all the rage if you didn’t want it leave it at the curb someone would take it. When I had outgrown my dolls and toys I gave them all away to the younger kids on the street. Yard sales have become a huge business on the weekends when the weather is nice. Yard sale-ing down Belmont Street you can make 2 or 3 stops on a good day. Just ask my friend Sharon she knows all the sales in advance heads out early to find stuff at a bahgain!

Some stuff is hard to part with for sentimental reason we cling to that old ticket stub, artwork or knick knack. You can’t take it with you when you go. Sooner or later all the stuff we own has to go to someone else or the dump. Each season of life we go through our stuff take inventory what stays what goes. Clothes in a closet no longer being worn get put in the red cross box for someone else that is in need. I don’t want to leave a lot of stuff behind. My hope is to give away a lot of stuff as the seasons change before that blue truck pulls up to my door.

5 Years Gone

My mom passed away 5 years ago during Christmastime. There was no warning. No hospital. No emergency she just went in her sleep. That night I talked to her on the phone she wasn’t feeling well and said she’d call the doctor on Monday. Her voice sounded tired I asked if she wanted me to come over. No, you go to the party and have a good time. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Tomorrow came but so did the phone call. She’s gone. After all the years of praying, going to church and believing in God, He took her home, the ultimate final step for a Christian. When I went to her house to see for myself I was numb. Could it be a mistake? Why didn’t I go over there? Could I have stopped this from happening? No. Death is something you can’t stop.

In the fridge there was a container of her homemade sauce and meatballs, another one with soup. My thoughts were it’s the last meals that she cooked. I’ll never taste her comfort food again. Meatballs never taste quite as good as hers and I always made sure I told her that too. Warm motherly hugs that make you feel wanted and loved, cease.

There’s no word to express the loss of a loved one. One day you have a conversation and the next it’s over. Gone forever are the phone calls asking if everything is ok. Want to come over for tea and supper. I need a ride to the hairdresser can you take me. My role as caretaker and daughter is done. That connection with someone so important for you to make happy and comfortable the best you can is finished.

A day does not go by that she is not in my thoughts, memories and dreams. Soon after her death I dreamt she was all dressed up in white, hair done, smiling with my dad. She told me it’s all right I’m ok. Somehow this comforts me. 5 years gone. I’ll always miss you. And life goes on.

Mama and my grandmother Effie in front of their home in Southwest Margaree, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada

August Sky

The sky is pink, blue and yellow - a watercolor
God paints me a sky every day
after the rain the sky glows pink into purple –
yellow into gold

green tree tops look like mountains
against a pink sky
twilight
August winds blow a strong storm through
torrential rain falls
and now an afterglow

Calmly the trees stand after their furious flight
gentle breeze takes over a calm sky
pink and blue sky goes by
wet is the ground clean from the rain
pink turns blue into the night sky – cool is the breeze
the sun is gone - leaving only a trace
of its setting colors

the storm has passed – night is here
another day will dawn and God will paint a new sky

Krishna's and Communists - Marion Rd

The main door downstairs to get up to 2nd or 3rd floor apartments was never locked anyone could come in. One summer as a kid the door knocks. Me and daddy answer the door to my amazement was a Hari Krishna dressed in their garb that made him look like he was from out of space! These people use to dance around airports, shaking tambourines, peace love happiness. With a ponytail coming out from the top of his head but the rest of his head shaved to the skin. Long, bright orange dressgown and he tries to say something to my dad maybe peace or do you know Hari? My father screeches “NO we’re catholic!” Slams the door in his face! LOL. I looked at my dad and he said don’t ever talk to those people. I thought great something else to be fearful of Krishna’s and Communists. My friends Helen and Milena with their parents escaped from Czechoslovakia they had to escape from the communists – whoever they were.

happy birthday

today is my 47th birthday. november 15th. its a warm tropical day. the rain is falling.

my mother would tell me this story of the day i was born in 1961
she'd say "your father was calling everybody on the phone saying margaret had a baby girl and she's a blond!"

dad would always wake me up in the morning to sing "happy birthday to you". he'd say "someday you'll wear silk stockings".

I love you mom and dad. I'm the surprise that God sent.
miss you always.

10 bucks

album seperation angst. theyre pretty worn out and old. give ya 10 bucks. great. i'm thrilled you'll take them for me. albums. 80 vinyl record albums. mostly 70's rock. a sin to throw away. place called stereo jacks. mass ave cambridge. all records. this is where my albums belong!. they even have a rotary phone! among the collectors. people who still want that vinyl and art.

I kept 1 beatles abbey road album. and boston bobby orr #4 GOAL 69-70 season went to frankie d's bunkah. it was sad giving up my albums. pieces of that era that were mine as a teen singing to aerosmith. led zeplin II. boston. foghat. peter frampton. sat nite fevah.

it was time to let them go. what better place than a record store on mass ave. in cambridge. 10 bucks. was gonna clean the cah but its gonna rain.

goodbye records. my old friends...live on in the bridge.