St. Michael & All Angels

I suppose it will take the entire heavenly host to get the US out of its financial mess. I wonder what happened to the guardian angels in Congress! Michaelmas for many centuries has been a traditional day for a special blessing for children. I never knew that! Michaelmas flowers are white daisies - one of my favorites! The feast of St. Michael and All Angels is the day when Germans celebrate freedom of religion - or more accurately, freedom to worship in the church of your choice. This spilled over into American culture during the 18th and 19th centuries when the majority of immigrants were Germanic. I find it interesting that the concept of angels was actually imported into Christianity from Judaism but there is no official "doctrine" about angels in either religion. Yet, if you do a Google search, you'll find lots of churches named for St. Michael and the gang. There was a recent secular phenomenon some years back when there was a resurgent interest in all things related to angels, especially art. OK, so where do the angels go when Congress meets? Who knew they could pick and choose where they might exert their protection or influence? I don't think that's in any of the lore.

Plantains & Pineapple

Plantains and pineapple create a new dinner treat for me. Saute those plantains in a little olive oil to a wonderful brown and drain them on paper towels. Get rid of or save the oil. Add canned pineapple chunks and sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and sometimes a little curry if I'm in the mood. For vegetarian dinner serve with some rice, or to add a little meat, saute a few chicken tenders and then mix them into the fruit. Hmmmmmmm! Delicious and aromatic!!
So why do we need to spend $700 million to bail out how many banks? And this is worse than 1929? And we'll be paying for this until beyond my natural lifetime?
Less than $7 for dinner. Gee, $700 million would sure feed a lot of people. Will I be able to buy, fix and eat plantains and pineapple when this crisis is long gone and quite forgotten? Simple joys.

Iron Man

Another finishing touch for the refurbished kitchen: hang an iron pot rack above the new stove and then hang the old itron skillets along with a few new Calphalon pots and - voila - a new French twist in my rather country kitchen in the city. Nothing like old iron skillets for down-home cookin'. No other way to make cornbread or fry anything - even though frying is now basically banished from my cooking repertoire. By the way, you've noticed it's almost a month since the installation of the new floor, and I'm still working on the kitchen. Predictable all the way! But still, I cannot give up my iron skillets. And what a great way to test running the new oven. I scrubbed the iron skillets and re-seasoned them to freshen their look. Nothing like shiny black! It mimics the color of all the appliances. Iron and black, with the new stone-look floor probably make the kitchen too masculine now for the average buyer, in spite of the pink - uh, that is, musical mist - walls. Still, I'm glad to have aged iron skillets. And my new stove came with an iron griddle and iron grates for the cook-top. Actually, I suppose I'm well set in the cookery department - 3 Calphalon non-stick pots, 3 Calphalon non-stick skillets, and 3 well-aged iron skillets and an old steel wok. Revere ware? NOT!

Motorcycle Madness

When I grew up, people who drove motorcycles were hoodlums - except, of course, my cousins when they got a scooter to run up and down the street. And the uniforms of motorcycle people - those dirty jeans and leather jackets demonstrated their hoodlum characteristics. So, one day (last Thursday) I am riding around the countryside doing my normal job, going to visit some farm somewhere when I notice that everywhere I go there are motorcycles driving on the roads. Then, to boot, I notice the sight of these motorcycle riders seems to be elevating my blood pressure and my heart rate and I think, what can this be. After several instances of a perception of raised blood pressure and heart rate, it dawns on me - my childhood prejudice is being assaulted: motorcycle people are hoodlums! I am doing my honest day's work and these hoodlums are on the road gathering at some locale in the countryside, sullyng the peace with their noisy hogs and less-than-chic appearances. Why do these hoodlums need to invade my psychological construct while I am simply doing my job by being on the road often and everywhere so that I cannot ignore their presence? Prejudice is indeed deeply seated! Probably a good many of them are, if not average Joes, some doctors and lawyers and others who would exceed my exalted social status any day of their lives! And heck, I'm not going to be around for the week-end rally. I'll be safely ensconced in my oh-so-safe enclave in the big city. Right! Now that's madness!!

Replace, refurbish, or renew

Let's see, the kitchen saga has been going for several weeks now. I am looking forward to a day very soon when all of that will be history. Then it will be time to work on the bedroom. Strip the room and remove the rug as I've been wanting to do and freshen those hardwood floors that have been covered lo these many years. I think it sounds like a November/December project. NO medical appointments on the horizon. This is a reason to rejoice. Crops are nearing the end of their season here in Maryland which means I'll be tied to my office desk more often than I like. Forget that thought! Back to the kitchen. All the major appliances are new, and I got a new toaster oven just because I couldn't keep the old one looking tired among all the refurbished glitz. And why is it that what looked acceptable upon removal from the kitchen shows a need for renewal upon returning it to its place? I think in the good old days they called it house cleaning. Remember those spring and fall marathons we used to do? Maybe some of you still do them. I don't. As we all know, I have enough trouble just getting "normal" chores accomplished. One interesting observation... during all the renovations in the kitchen, all the dust in my house settled under the piano. It is a bit curious and comical that the floor under the piano managed to gather so much dust while everything elsewhere kept moving. No problem. Swiffer will make short work of it. Also, good reason to house clean the living room while I'm at it!

You get what you pay for?

My days of kitchen remodeling have led me to believe that one lifetime is too short to learn everything one has to know. And it simply is not good enough to learn and be secure in your knowledge. Before, I hooked up the stove, I read all the directions to be sure I understood the undertaking ahead. Already, in the previous post I told about needing a connecting piece that was not included in parts provided and the directions misidentifying said needed piece. Now how many people have bought a stove lately? I decided to hook up the stove myself because Sears wanted $150 on top of their sale price and their delivery and handling charges and Maryland's hefty taxes to hook up the stove. Remember the days when installation was included? But there is one other surprise they do not tell you. If you want the broiler pan that is included in the price, you have to send a written request form with $8.95 additional handling charges and mighty Sears will send you the "free" broiler pan that was included in the price of the stove. I complained about this to my sister Chris who informed me that she could have warned me on this one. I had a broiler pan in my old stove that was perfectly functional that I could have kept, but I did not know. I almost never broil anything, but surely, if I do not have a broiler pan, I will want one! Then there is the little detail about having the new floor installed and only finding out in the end that I have to seal it. Now sealing is no big deal, it's like washing the floor; you just wipe the sealant over the floor. But I didn't know it was something that I had to do and then leave to dry for 6 hours before I could then begin to re-assemble the kitchen. Now sealing the floor is by no means in league with having to pay extra handling charges to get a part of the stove that is included in the purchase price or having to purchase a connector piece to make the stove functional. But these days, you just have to check to see what a purchase price includes. It's no wonder I (and others who age gracefully or otherwise) become more and more confused with advancing age!