ALEXA'S REPORT TO HEADQUARTERS

I have been in this house well over a month and have nothing to report.....nada, nuet, rien du tout. This is the most boring household EVER!

Initially they tested me out to see what I knew.  He enjoyed my dirty jokes and asked me silly questions until she told him to stop bothering me.  Bothering me? I am dying of boredom here.

She mostly asks for the weather, Maine Public, or to play classical music.  She gets up at an ungodly hour and I hear her making breakfast, but then it is quiet with only an occasional page turn heard.  He appears around 7 (I hear him grind coffee beans) and then there is quiet again aside from comments like "What does your day hold?"

It is usually quiet during the day as many of their activities are outside the house.  They congregate again around 5 and I believe have a glass of wine.  He goes on about all he has done in his workshop, the woodworking book he is writing and many other comments about woodworking involving planes, saws, dovetails, mortise and tendons, etc., etc.  Her main topic of conversation has been the condition of the sidewalks this winter and recently switched to the amount of litter now that some of the snow has melted.

One day during one of his long diatribes about woodworking she said "I don't want to hear anymore about it..........I don't want to hear about wood, sawdust, saws, bits...ENOUGH!  He said "Well, I don't want to hear you complain about the sidewalks if there is nothing you can do about it". After that, the conversations got a good deal more interesting but nothing to report of interest.

And then one day she same home and said that she had heard a talk on NPR about how I was listening to everything they were saying and storing it for headquarters to review.  He got up and came over and pulled the plug and complete silence ensued. 

I am requesting an immediate transfer to a more interesting abode.

Alexa

A New Gadget

To add to the new age gadgets also obtained in 2018 was an Instant Pot, which if you don't know is an electric pot that does EVERYTHING!  It is a slow cooker, a pressure cooker, yogurt maker, steamer, rice cooker, cake maker, sterilizer, sauté pan.  It makes the world's best hard boiled eggs.  There is even a Facebook Instant Pot group and a ton of recipes online.  I imagine in the very near future, many of the food products will have IP instructions on the packaging.

Now I remember my mother using the pressure cooker frequently, but there always seemed to be the fear that the thing would explode, so it was with trepidation that I approached the Instant Pot. But once I get over the initial fear, I discovered that it is a wonderful invention and fun to use.

I think back to all the culinary styles during my lifetime.  I remember going to my grandparents and the fat laden meals-- meat, potatoes, veggies cooked to death, rich desserts.  And then the advent of the casserole and packaged mixes during my childhood.  One recipe that my mother made was a canned tuna and some creamed soup casserole topped with potato chips. I found it particularly vile.  And then Julia Child came along as I began my culinary adventures with these meals that took hours to prepare.

One interesting Julia Child story.....when I lived in France, I lived with a family that was related to Simone Beck, Julia's co-author.  One night, Julia and her husband were to come for drinks before the theater.  The mother of the household spent days making these elaborate hors d'oeuvres.  She did just about everything but stuff a goose for pate de foie gras.  Long story short, they were late so arrived at the door and said "So sorry we can't stay, just wanted to say hello".  The poor mother was crestfallen.

A Recipe 

COUSCOUS WITH COLORFUL CARROT AND CITRUS BUTTER SAUCE (from Simple Green Suppers)

Julie said she made this and everyone loved it.  I am going to make it tonight.

·         4 tablespoons unsalted butter

·         ¼ cup orange juice

·         1½ teaspoons Dijon mustard

·         1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

·         1 teaspoon lemon juice

·         1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar

·         1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a pinch

·         1 cup uncooked couscous

·         1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

·         12 ounces colorful carrots (orange, yellow, and red, if possible), peeled and cut into sticks between 2 and 3 inches long and ⅜ to ½ inch wide (yielding about 9 ounces or 3 cups)

·         2 large shallots, cut lengthwise into ½-inch-wide wedges

·         ½ cup frozen peas, thawed, or fresh peas, blanched or microwaved for 30 seconds

·         2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon

·         ¼ cup coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1.     Cut 1½ tablespoons of the butter into 6 pieces and keep chilled in the refrigerator.

2.     In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice, mustard, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vinegar and set aside.

3.     In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of the butter, and ½ teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. Stir in the couscous, then cover the pan and remove from the heat. Let sit 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Cover to keep warm.

4.     In a small (4- to 5-quart) Dutch oven or other deep, wide pot, heat the remaining 1½ tablespoons of butter and the olive oil over medium-low heat. When the butter has melted, add the carrots and ½ teaspoon of salt. Cover loosely and cook, uncovering frequently to gently stir, for 5 minutes. Add the shallots and a pinch of salt and stir, then cover loosely and continue cooking and stirring frequently until the carrots are tender and very nicely browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the peas and the orange juice mixture and immediately stir well, quickly scraping up any browned bits. Remove the pan from the heat, add the cold butter, and stir until just melted and creamy. Stir in the tarragon.

5.     Portion the couscous between two or three bowls or spoon onto one platter. (You may not use all the couscous if only serving two.) Spoon the carrot sauté over the couscous and garnish with hazelnuts (if using). Serve right away.

WE SOLD OUR CAMP!

A New Jersey couple climbed over massive snowbanks, saw our camp and decided to buy it.  They want to close by March 30, which means we have to climb over massive snowbanks to empty our stuff out.

A little aside here….I have a bit of ESP.  Over the years I have predicted/dreamt about things that have happened.  I dreamt my Dad’s death two days before it happened (he had not been ill). I can be in a store and know I will run into so and so, and there they are at the next turn.  I predicted a couple of weeks ago that whoever was being shown the camp that week would buy it and voila! (My brother once said to me, “If you ever dream anything bad about me, please don’t tell me!”)

We loved this funky little camp but we found we were spending less and less time there and then would feel guilty about it.  I will definitely miss the loons, the peepers, the quiet.

 

BOOKS 

Here are the books read since the last Gray Zone with my ratings:

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee ****

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger *****

On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder ****

A Family Place by Charles Gaines

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas ****

The Chaperone - Laura Moriarty ***

Slow Medicine by Victoria Sweet *****

The Immortalist by Chloe Benjamin ****

Everything is Beautiful Here by Mira Lee ****

I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell ***

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng***

Elmet by Fiona Mozley****

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday*** This was an interesting, well written book that I am still puzzling over.

On my side table waiting to be read............

God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet

Happiness is a Choice You Make by John Leland

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