Follow the fork

How are you all doing? This isolation isn't so bad. Before long there will be beauty and planting and sitting in the sun.  Our pool opened beautifully this year and there is very little to be done with it.  Last year it looked like the creature from the black lagoon lived there all winter. We are looking forward to the house and building's bath this Saturday.

It seems like I am cooking for a crowd every day since Nate has started eating here again.  He has discerning taste and it is a pleasure getting a compliment now and then. Tonight it is fried rice and a bowl of 3 different sausages and two different beans in the soup.  There is a salad, but nothing to rave about there.

I am hearing from my friends around the world and I think they have it much worse than we do.  They are really scared. Alex and her new husband Kyle are both new doctors and really young.  They are on the front line at a Dayton hospital with 18 hour days. It is a real worry for the family.

Hang in there.

week five

Outdoor workers are coming tomorrow, Monday (the 30th) one to give the house and buildings and bricks a power wash and another to open the pool. These are outdoor workers, of course, so we will have little or no contact.  It gives them work and it certainly helps us.  With the pool, everyone who lives here will give time to its spring cleaning over the week end...or whenever they have the time.  Our guys are still working outside too with little or no contact necessary.

Today I have a nice pork roast from Carfagnas.  I am out of carrots so it is with cabbage and potatoes and onions--slow roasting for several hours.  The guys finished off the soup today and so another pot is called for.  Thank God for soup. (I am thanking him for everything day and night.)

I am having fun entertaining myself and others, I hope, with pictures on Facebook from years back. 2011 is featured today.

I have also started a puzzle and wish my sister-in-law was here to help.  She's a whiz at puzzles. In between these activities, I try to keep the house in order and clean.  It's been five weeks since Monica and her crew have been here.

Stay positive and safe, my friends and family.

order food on line

We have just placed our first-ever order of groceries online to be picked up at Kroger.  Evidently, we just drive up and there are the bags of groceries in the hands of a happy worker. It will be interesting to see how much of our actual order is in the bag...and how fresh the produce is. We just don't want to take the chance of going in-store especially when they are saying on tv that if there are two respirators left and the contest is between us and younger persons then arrivederci to us.

I've started putting on happy pictures of the past to Facebook to cheer people up.  I know we are probably tired of news and doom and gloom. .. are you tired of soup stories?

Nate caught us having a drink at noon today.  He said to go for it.  By the end of this thing who knows how we will end up.  Right now we are very happy.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Sun tan in March

Yesterday was lovely and I started a suntan while soaking up vitamin D.  The sun is out again today but does not feel as strong, maybe this afternoon will bring on the glaring rays.  I love the sun.

I have a lovely chicken pot pie prepared for dinner.  All I have to do is pop it in the oven. 

I am just finishing up a Bend in the Stars and have ordered (to Kindle) Fly Away by Kristin Hannah. I liked a Bend in the Stars but found it a little too long or maybe I am just ready for something lighter since I feel an end to this virus madness coming on. I could be wrong and we are not taking any chances but I have faith in America.

I have no faith, however, in finding any good television in the evening.  I never watch during the day but I do like a good evening of television.  It would not hurt them to drop some of the new episodes or new shows in this time of sheltering in place. The public television programmer is simply confused. It's annoying the interruptions in shows that we endure.

Remember the 80 pounds of rice that my son bought from Walmart?  We have yet to cook a grain of it. If we can ever have guests again they can be sure of a rice dish in the mix...

Week four

Well, how are you all doing? This has started my fourth week at home.  I have been reading up a storm.  My seat mate on the Italy bus tour is a real reader.  She went on vacation to the beach for a week and read five books while she was gone.  She is sad that her library is closed, but I am sure she will find a way to books. I just ordered Fly Away by Kristin Hannah.  I told you about some of her books that I had read so I am eager to start this one although I have one that is gripping me at the moment.

Nate, our grandson, has decided he likes my cooking after all the years he has lived here and I am finding it a challenge to keep up with his appetite.  He has restarted his business after traveling all winter and since he works outside all day his appetite is BIG. Luckily he and Andy like pasta and I have enough of that to last for several months.  Every time I see a bag of a different shape, I buy it and add it to the collection.  I even brought home two bags of miniature colored pasta from Italy that I was going to show off at the Easter party.  Sigh.  That's canceled too, so it will keep until we are all free once more.

I have been cleaning cupboards and drawers and the kitchen floor, a bit a day.  I shutter looking out the windows and cannot wait for the 30th to arrive.  Johnny comes to give the house a bath and all the bricks and cement  as well.  We leave the tennis court to Eric as well as the outside furniture.  The pool is to be opened this week because I wanted it clean and pretty for Easter. Sigh. Eric has extra work because vandals broken into the padlocked backyard's fence last night and then came near the front of the house and knocked over our gas meter.  I think they stood on it to heave themselves over the locked front gate.  There is nothing to steal here except daffodils, boys.

I have no inspiration for cooking dinner tonight. I usually like to get it going in the morning, but I am slow on the draw today.  Andy has gone for a whiskey run.  He is wearing a mask and rubber gloves.  I hope they don't think it is a hold-up

Three weeks and counting

I know this virus is serious but I still have to laugh.  My son, Michael, bought 80 pounds of rice at Walmart.  I don't think he had ever been to Walmart to shop and why all the rice?  He said I would change my tune when we run out of food (which is unlikely for about a year.) I told him he would have to keep me alive because I was the only cook available. Mike is on one of those diets (that is really working) that sends the food Fed Ex, so he is not worried about having to eat rice I should imagine.

We got so much rain last night.  The lightning lit up the bedroom and the thunder...Andy and I got up around 4:00 and I made a frittata--cooking soothes me in times like this.  Also, I have been in the house or on this property for three weeks now and I am a bit squirrely. (You should see my hair!) I need an appointment!

 I looked in the basement because I heard gurgling and there was water on the floor.  Clean water and we are still discussing where it came from. Cooke Rd. had high water, yet cars still tried to get through and ended up turning in our driveway. (I thought people were meant to stay home.??) The sewer down by the end of our driveway was plugged up and gurgling with rain water.  Who knows the underground secrets, not I.

I am reading a lot and playing computer games.  I am also cooking big because Nate has discovered that he likes my cooking after living here several years.  Also, he wants to check on me every time I am out of sight because in traveling the world for three months he was afraid he had brought home the virus even though he self quarantined in Miami before coming home.  We are all well and safe, thank God. I hope the readers of this blog are too. The sun has just come out so I feel happy.  I can't wait to bake in the sun and to enjoy the summer ahead.

A final whine:
Andy drove by the welfare office and there are lines outside.  I thought we were to stay put and not congregate or does that just apply to some of us?

What to do What to do

While many people are self-imposed quarantined they may be looking for ways to spend the day.  I can think of hundreds of ways, but daytime television is not one of them nor lately is evening TV. With all of the talent out there they cannot seem to put out a good show anymore.  I was relying on Public Television to rescue my evenings and they had such a great line up I had full confidence in them only to be let down.  Their programmer cannot seem to get it together.  One begins a lovely series like Escape to the Chateau and I for one cozy down for the show and up pops Country Music marathon, or an info commercial or a plea for money.  The show does not come on for weeks, and sometimes, like Jamestown, never. (Well, that one was a good idea to can.) A series should not be interrupted unless it is a national emergency of some kind.  If the series is important enough to put on in the first place then stick to the date and time that it should be on. Don't try to 'top' it with a new show; it breaks the spell. I have given up on tv in general and then I go to bed, sleep a few hours and wake up fresh as a daisy not being able to go back to sleep.  So, I cook. That's another way to spend time.  Try out recipes or create your own in the silence of the home with no distractions. Trust me, someone will appreciate and eat your creation. Note: To watch episodes of Escape to the Chateau go to Dailymotion on your computer.  It is free and better than free Youtube.

Now the sun is out many days leading into spring.  Andy has gotten an early start on planting.  That usually does not work out and we lose all the flowers, but we do it again and we so appreciate those lovely blooms.  Anyway, he is spending a lot of time in the yard right now and discovered many ways to fill his time and mine.  Eric is coming Saturday to cut down a couple of trees, fertilize the property, and to do away with wayward leaves that fell late in the season. Then Johnny comes the 30th to give the house and buildings a bath with power washers. Then the windows will need a shine...you see, I can fill your days with ideas.

Maybe you won't need any of these suggestions.  Andy just came back from the bank and store and everything is going on as usual.  Kroger was packed and the bank ATMs had lines of cars. (There was even enough toilet paper for everyone.)  No shortages.  Maybe it is just the media hype. Here we turned down a trip to Cincinnati to be with some family members at a luncheon today.  We were following the president's what to do and not do and here it is business as usual in Columbus. Well, I for one like staying home now days, so either way I'm covered.

Waaa Waaaa

Collecting friends will tell you I am an exceedingly lucky woman.  Therefore they showed no sympathy 
 when I told them how difficult a trip to London and Paris was.  Getting from six to fifteen trunks home on a regular flight is no small feat and actually impossible in this day and age. At that time, in America by the time you see trunks and boxes swirling and thumping around on a luggage carrousel, there is not a porter in sight to help. After a particularly grueling but lucrative buying trip in  September and October a long time ago, I begged a United agent to allow two porters to come to our aid.  He called them down, one too old to be doing that type of work and one too lazy to be doing anything.  The United agent graciously lent me a flat bed trolly since the porters were not allowed to bring theirs down to that level.  After my spending $800. in excess luggage fees I felt I had actually bought the flatbed trolley, but I intended to keep it safe and take care of it anyway.  Everyone who had luggage wanted my flatbed and my two guys.  I had to hang on to all three.  Andy, my husband, was watching for the boxes and trunks on the carousel. I saw that he let a really big box go by.  Thinking he didn't see it I called out to him. He smiled, shook his head and said it is not our box.  It went around another time so I hailed him again and he said, "believe me it is not our box." Third time around I risk losing it all by leaving the porters, the trolley, and my sanity in order to check out the box no one was claiming.  As I looked up, each weary traveler was looking at me, a frantic woman with a flat bed trolley and three men... screaming for one of them to pick up the big box marked condoms.

Ahhh, Brimfield flea market

I know you well, Brimfield flea market in Brimfield, Massachusetts and love you still.  I have not been there in years and I know it is not what it once was, but each time I think of it it is a thrill.  A man named Gordon organized and opened this experience to the world back in the sixties and we were fortunate to get there during spring break and on opening day.  There was Gordon at the gate to greet each car and asked where the passengers were from.  At the time we had come the farthest.  It was a harrowing journey to get there.  I was still teaching so due to school schedules we could not leave until dinner time on a Friday.  Andy drove all night.  We stopped at a motel to give Andy a little rest before the gates opened early that morning.  The boys and I had slept the entire trip so they bundled up in their coats and walked around.  'Somehow', David fell in the murky dirty pool that was left uncovered.  Andy was resting and I was getting dressed and suddenly Mike ran in totally wet to get us and there was David sloshing after him dripping wet winter coat, boots and all and looking really upset.  David had fallen in, how one can only guess? Mike jumped in to save him.  Mike said to him, "hang on to the side and I'll get dad."  David said," no, you hang on and I'll get dad."  Somehow they came to an agreement and both escaped with their lives. We had a lovely dinner after the flea market to celebrate Mike's heroism.  (On many occasions after that Mike joking suggested that might have been a bit premature.)

Brimfield was the largest and best flea market in America.  I don't know if it is still working but I can tell you it was a wonderful experience.  I found many treasures at that market and I will never forget all the people who traveled with us to get there.  One time after a convention here in Columbus I hired a Greyhound bus and forty-two people joined us for the adventure of shopping New England.  Brimfield was high on the agenda but we stopped at everything that even looked like it might have antiques.  The bus driver liked us so much that he wished we did not have to end it all at the end of a full week.

I don't remember how many people came to our convention but I do remember having them all here to afternoon tea and then dinner.  It was hot, I do remember that.  I have a guest book that would answer the question of how many were here.  I'll have to get that out sometime.  We had a convention with speakers and a sales room... it was a well organized time out of a week in our lives. I do remember a couple from the Netherlands attended but did not go on the tour. People from all over America did attend and many joined us on the bus trip.
Our first stop on the trip was an antique shop.  We had a microphone for use on the bus.  Andy announced that Doris would go in to see if there was anything good to be had.  That resulted in him being bombarded with soft objects and THEY were the first shoppers in the door and I was the last.

Ahhh, the antique fairs and flea markets

I was looking at my wayward notes for this book nay essays and Brimfield, in America, and Newark in England gave me a thrill.  It is difficult unless you are a collector to imagine the wonderful high that these two markets gave the two of us every time we heard their names. Still, years later all those memories rush in to take me to a cold February in England.

Although Andy has been with me at the flea market in Newark, England he has never been there in February.  I don't think he'd like it, but I did.  The Newark Fair is established as the premier international antiques and collectors fair in England.  The excellent facilities, as well as Newark's central location, ensure the fair's great success.  One can reach it by train, but the private bus that picked us up at the Barkston Hotel at 4:00a.m. and took us to Newark in time for early opening at 6:30a.m. was our go-to ride. There would be forty of us and it cost each of us only twenty English pounds.  A bargain and a security blanket that ensured that our purchases and our cold tired bodies got back to the hotel in one piece.

 The Newark and Nottinghamshire Showgrounds offers space for up to 4,000 stallholders occupying eight permanent buildings,  50 marquees and hundreds of outside pitches.  (I give you this information now because this fair still exists but it is not nearly what it was in its heyday and that is when I shopped it with glee.) At the time I shopped it as many as 20,000 customers came to this glorious flea market which included leading buyers from all over the world and we Americans were in that category I should think. For additional information Goggle Newark, England antiques fair.

So picture a wrapped up woman looking like the Michelin man jumping out of a bus with a set of roller wheels on a foggy English morning heading for the buys with intense focus. Proof of that is sitting in my kitchen as I write.

It was the end of the day and the bus was leaving at 6:00.  I was dead tired but this really large tent had its entrance flap back and the warm lighting lured me in.  I looked to the left and there sat the most wonderful pine, very large, table with bottom racks that I had ever seen.  At home, my kitchen was being re-done and I had to have this seven foot very heavy table.  The merchant was happy to have, possibly, this last big sale because the table was 2,000 pounds.  Very expensive and it was at the end of my shopping day, but I did have 2,000 pounds and I gave it to him without a receipt.  I was frantic to get back to the bus and my shipper was back near the bus and I had to get to him first.  It was like 'clear the way'. I was running and panting and dragging my bag on wheels and people actually did get out of my way.  They were afraid of me. I got to the shipper and he said let's go back and let me look at the table so I TRIED to find the tent.  You got it...I could not remember where the paid-for table lurked among the 4,000 stalls. We searched and searched and the bus waited and waited and the passengers were tired, cold, and hungry after marathon shopping for 12 hours. That's never a good scenario. Finally, the shipper said go on, get on the bus and I will find the table.  Nothing else could be done so I left him and 2,000 pounds and trudged back to the bus.  The collectors on board were actually gracious about the short delay because they knew how they would feel leaving something like that behind.

The next day, late in the day for some reason, the shipper called and said he had found the table and that he would 'dine out' on that American story for months. He was happy too because all of my purchases could be placed on the underside of that table and the entire table with my purchases could be plastic wrapped and travel safely to America which it did.

Books, blogs, and mistakes

Betty Rosbottom was my cooking teacher at the Lazarus department store in Columbus.  When in town I would schedule as many of her sessions as I could around my trips and hers because she and her husband 'worked' Paris and they still do. She has had a cooking blog for years and I just rediscovered it.  She has a list of blogs that she enjoys based on food places in and around Paris because they go to Paris to eat. She told me once that when she would arrive in Paris she would choose where to eat, starting usually with a patisserie and she would select several small delicacies and then sit and try to figure out how they were made and with what. She would come home with a load of recipes that she had figured out just with the tasting of the product and some chef begging.  I will list them here for you to enjoy too:

The Provence Post
Paris by Mouth
John Talbott's Paris

Note:
The Nightingale is one of the best books I have ever read. I just finished it.

I am in my six weeks' reading cycle and have discovered a favorite author and I say this having only read half of the book so far.  I found her on Amazon books and put The Nightingale on my Kindle. I'm enjoying the book and looked on Amazon and luckily for the world she has several more books.  I love it when that happens. I have a friend, my seatmate on the Italy trip, who reads 100 books a year.  I never thought to count what I read, but I wish I had.  It is not nearly 100 I can tell you that.

I use Grammarly or more truthfully it uses me when I write on the computer.  It is free and it catches a lot of mistakes.  I find, however, they want to 'compound' words too much of the time.  I always thought compound words were kind of lazy. I would never have thought to compound seatmate because looking at the word quickly when reading I would think what the heck is that word. But, I compounded it and hope for the best.  Also because I am tired of seeing that red error line under my words.

Back to food: Andy and I did not travel to Paris to eat, believe me.  We stayed in a semi comfortable hotel but it was not fancy.  We did not search for places to dine but we found some good food anyway.  Also, our dealer friends took us to many different restaurants. It was antiques that we concentrated on but it was the eating in Paris that gave us the most fodder for laughs.

The first miserable time we went to Paris French friends had stayed at our house for the week- end several times and they are the ones that gave us the name of this restaurant, unfortunately. We thought it would be friendly.  It was not! We spoke no French and they tried not to speak at all.  We were asking about dishes, or the special and he replied after a snort that the asperge was beautiful.  It sounded like perch, the fish.  So Andy ordered that.  I don't know what I ordered but out came the most beautiful plate of white buttered and sauced asparagus that one could only dream about, that is if you liked asparagus which Andy loathed. We didn't know either that one dared not send a plate back to the kitchen, especially one so full of pride and beauty.  All hell broke loose and we were cussed by the kitchen staff, the chef, the chef's relatives, the other customers, and their relatives. They called in people off the street to cuss us in French for insulting their beautiful spring asparagus. It wasn't pretty. Finally, the waiter came back and threw down his order pad and asked in perfect English, "what WILL you eat?"  I said salad and Andy said spaghetti...another faux pas. you don't say spaghetti in France, it's pasta and there are hundreds of choices and sauces. I think Andy got just plain noodles. I could not deal with his pain I  was too busy eyeing the salad that throbbed.  On top of the lovely greens was a row of quivering beef, bloody and which had only felt the heat of the grill for a minute on each side. We yelled for the check and made it out the door, but even at that we were followed by a few screamers; they may have been armed.