Gandolfini and Flynn

James Gandolfini and Vince Glynn…what do they have in common? One was an actor and the other was an author. They both happened to die on the same day.

 

As for James Gandolfini, I watched him faithfully playing Mob Boss Tony Soprano on HBO. He is the reason why I subscribed to Cable. I loved spending my Sunday nights with Tony and his family. Even though I’m 100% Italian, it didn’t offend me that the Sopranos were about the Mob. Quite frankly, I didn’t condone or elevate the Mob, but I definitely loved watching the Sopranos to see what Tony would do.

 

I even enjoyed all those family meals. But mostly, I liked James Gandolfini. There was something likeable about him. Maybe it was that he wasn’t your typical nice movie star. He wasn’t gorgeous but there was still something about him that came across the screen and made you watch the hour long show.

 

My son, who works for Comcast gave me a life-sized cardboard cut out of James Gandolfini in his Tony role. It sits in my computer room. I also have a large framed picture of Tony ad his guys, hanging on one of my bedroom walls. It is almost like a family portrait. Sure, Tony was a bad man, who did bad things. Despite all of that, I miss the Sopranos and I’ll miss Games Gandolfini.

 

On the other hand, Vince Flynn was the total opposite. He was a best-selling author of 14 novels. Flynn seemed to have a great handle on political thrillers and centered his stories on his main character named, Mitch Rapp.  Rapp did it all and never failed. Despite having dyslexia, Flynn worked extremely hard to make himself into a successful writer. He was by all accounts, a good man, husband and father. He was a man willing to help other writers. I will miss reading his new books and all those adventures of Mitch Rapp. I think the world will be a sadder place without him.

 

The two men died doing what they both loved, and I like the idea that I can still pull out my videos of the Sopranos and watch Gandolfini. Or, I can re-read Flynn’s adventures of Rapp. Both men will be missed.

A Baker and an Artist

I spent a few hours in the catering kitchen working on my assigned jobs at my prep table. Across from me, I watched Lucy, a pastry chef, assemble a chocolate Eiffel Tower that would eventually go on the top of a bridal shower cake. Watching Lucy work was amazing. Every once in a while I had to put down my knife on the cutting board and walk over to her prep table to get a closer look of her work.

 

I have said this before, but I think Lucy is an amazing person. She is married with three children, and the owner of Bee Delicious Pastries. Her pastries, from her cookies to her wedding cakes, are divinely delicious and very creative. Yet, I think she is an architect as well. To make the chocolate Eiffel Tower, Lucy first made a sketch of the Tower which looked like what a professional architect would have down. The drawing was sketched on parchment paper.

 

Then Lucy assembled her chocolate levels by making each piece, and each side, one piece at a time. Chocolate was melted and squeezed from a pastry bag along the outline of each side. Eventually after the chocolate hardened, Lucy would put the sides together with miniature chocolate dipped dowel rods and, press the sides together. She would and add more chocolate to the rods and sides to hold them together until they were able to stand upright by themselves. This procedure would be done for each side and level. When it would get manageable, Lucy would transfer this to another rack to set, and she would continue to work on more of the Tower.

Watching all the different steps that were involved in making the Tower was really interesting but time consuming. At one point, I even got to help hold the chocolate together as Lucy added more soft chocolate to the sides to keep the pieces together. I was really up and close and got some chocolate on my fingers, which I licked afterwards…mmhm, it was so good! 

 

As time wore on, Lucy pulled out a small paint sprayer (that had never been used). She melted chocolate in a pan and then filled the sprayer. The chocolate would spray out and add a shine to the chocolate Tower. Again, everything would be moved to the drying rack, which was a safe place to dry the Tower sides and stories, and to keep them safe and out of harm’s way. I can’t wait to come in tomorrow and watch her complete the Tower.

 

Yes, Lucy is an amazing baker. But, somehow, I think Lucy is also an architect as well.  Kudos to you, Lucy!

Sports Card Junction

I have been re-introduced to football and baseball cards, and the nearby local sports card shop, called Sports Card Junction, which happens to be by my house.

 

My grandson, Matthew and his father, usually go to this store. My son has been collecting cards since he was a little kid, and now his son is interested in collecting the cards himself. My grandson has even bought me a few football cards of my favorite team, The Cleveland Browns. I guess we do have this connection of sports cards, along with books, writing and blogging.

 

The other day, on my way home from work, I saw the card shop and decided to check the place out for myself. It is a small shop with two rooms; a small entry way with sports memorabilia and a larger room with sports photos hanging on the walls, and cards – lots and lots of cards in the glass cases, and other cards filed alphabetically in boxes on the counters.

 

I can see why my grandson likes this store. For an almost 12-year-old sports card collector, it would be like a candy addict let loose in a candy store.

 

The owner was friendly enough and we talked a little bit about cards. I actually found a few cards while I was in the shop that I wanted and purchased as a gift for my grandson. I was glad that I finally found the card shop and went into it. But the next time that I go, I’m taking my grandson with me for a different type of experience.

A Job Well Done

In the last couple of days, the catering kitchen was at its fullest. This past weekend, there were two weddings to cater and a couple of other events to prepare the food for, and to drop it off.  

 

The two prep tables in the kitchen have had at least two people working at them. The movable prep table had plastic wrap laid down on it, where chicken breasts would be pounded out. Even the small metal sink counters were in use. Colanders were in the sink where fruits and vegetables were being washed and drained.

 

One of the helpers was cutting up a lot of vegetables that would eventually be assembled into four vegetable lasagnas with marinara sauce and cheese.  Other vegetables were cut up for a large potato salad. Cheeses were cut and trayed up, miniature gyros assembled, all the while large roasts were being cooked in the double ovens. In between salad dressings were made and stored in large plastic containers and labeled. Garlic was chopped, to be used as a seasoning in the food that was being prepared. Cornbread was made, as well as homemade croutons. Onions were thinly sliced, first dipped into flour, then a mixture of eggs and milk, and finally into another mixture of floured Cajun seasoning. The onions would be baked and used on top of the slices of meat at one of the weekend weddings. Broccoli was also chopped and would be made into a Cheddar Broccoli Salad.

 

The day goes by quickly when there are others working and checking off the foods that are being prepared or made.  Someone made a well needed coffee run. Every so often, the new woman, who was answering the phones and taking the messages, broke in with something that was important and needed to be answered right away.

 

Since I don’t help serve at the weddings, I can still get an idea of what’s being served by making the food, smelling the wonderful aromas, having a small sample, seeing what’s on the platters, inside the bowls, and what’s under the clear plastic wrappings.

 

 

When I leave the kitchen, I’m tired, not hungry, but satisfied by what we have accomplished. And like my daughter, the Chef, says – anyone who walks into the kitchen is fair game as far as seeing their name in my blog. Thanks Ryanne, Greg, Peter, Ashley, Julia and of course the chef – Erin!

Looking for a Little R & R

After a busy week of working in the Catering Kitchen, I actually looked forward to the long Memorial Day Weekend. All I really wanted to do was give my tired legs and aching feet some good old fashion R & R. They definitely needed a well-deserved vacation from all the standing that I had been doing lately. I just wanted to sit and vegetate, (which I seem to do quite well), even though I read that the more a person sits, the more chances that person has of dying sooner. Despite that warning…I sat.

 

But none of that happened. My daughter probably heard about sitting too much and decided to have me help her out in her kitchen. I ended up working in the catering kitchen for another five hours on that Saturday. Then I was gone all Sunday from 8:30am to 8:30 pm.  When I got home, I looked at my messaged and never returned any calls, despite hoping someone would have a cookout and invite me over. Oh yeah…I did go over on Sunday for a small cookout with one of my sons and his family and my daughter and her husband.

 

Luckily, I did find myself writing for a few hours at Panera’s with my writing friend on Monday, Memorial Day. So that counted for my vegging out, except I had to think as I wrote. My thumbs hurt from all that food cutting preparation, but my feet were sitting and they were happy about that.

 

So---I guess I did get a little bit of R & R, and I am alive to write about it.

Minimal Screw Ups in the KItchen: That Little Notebook

I have been working at my daughter’s kitchen for a while. After doing the same jobs over and over, I seem to be finally hitting my stride.

 

For the longest time, I have written down how to make certain things. I would write and re-write how to prepare and assemble certain food dishes. I keep a little notebook in my purse, only to jot down something new or look at what I need for the job that I am working on. Although, I keep my notebook with me (and I have food spots on each page), I’m finding that I don’t seem to be using it as much. I guess doing the same jobs, over and over, seems to be etched in my brain.

 

There are times that I actually remember all those little tips of how to finish off some of my platters for eye appeal. I even managed not to open the dishwasher during a rinse cycle. Thankfully, the floor and I have remained consistently drier then in my earlier years of helping out.

 

But today – after all my hours of working and not screwing up – I managed to screw up two of my jobs. I burned the cookies that I was baking for an event…despite that I was working at the prep table right across from the ovens.

 

Then the croutons that I had cut from day old bread and tossed with all those herbs and olive oil – burned.  The saddest part was that I had just turned the trays around. In the end, I totally forgot that I had the croutons in the oven.

 

Maybe it is the fact that when I am working alone in the kitchen, I seem to be paying better attention then when I am working with someone and talking to them.

 

Oh well, I guess I am happy to realize that my mistakes and screw ups are only occurring occasionally and not all the time. I guess that really is something to be happy about.

House Hunting

I have been driving around my area, searching for houses that are for sale by owner or an agent. A few houses have come on the market and my youngest daughter and her husband have put a bid down, only to have the owners accept a higher offer from someone else.

 

A few lessons I have learned from this house hunting with my daughter has left me with a mixed bag of feelings…

1.      It’s fun to look at different houses and be inspired by the decorating and what I could do with those places if I owned them.

2.      Different styles and decorations make me want to change the interior of my house, but the feelings are fleeting ones.

3.      I wish sometimes that I was the one moving.

4.      I am glad that I am not the one moving.

5.      I don’t want to clean my house so that it shines in order to show it to someone else.

6.      I don’t want to paint it or make it more appealing in order to sell it.

7.      I don’t want strangers or Real Estate people coming through my house and critiquing things.

8.      Just the thought of putting a For Sale sign up in my yard makes me sick to my stomach.

9.      Just the thought of moving and packing and fining a new place to live makes me hyperventilate, and grab a paper bag.

10.  I’m just as happy and content being the one that isn’t looking for a house.

 

So – I can live vicariously through my daughter’s house hunting adventure and - relax.