The Gulf, Oil And Storms

It has been reported today that Topical Storm Alex is brewing and gearing up in The Gulf of Mexico. The storm is expected to hit landfall by tomorrow and by might be strong enough to be considered a hurricane. It is thought to reach land by tomorrow night.

Everyone concerned over the recent catastrophic BP oil spill in this region are worried about the potential devastation to the coastal regions, which now will probably include oil washed ashore. Big storms and hurricanes have wreaked havoc in this region year after year and there is no telling how powerful this storm is going to be.

There are precautions that people can take, in order to be safe and to track the progression of the weather. The National Weather Center has been cited as the place to visit. It is government-run and will allow people to check on any change of the storm’s status; downgraded, upgraded, etc. It gives those linking to their site the ability to see if the storm speeds up, loses ground, or changes directions, as storms are famous for doing. Right now the projected area is near the Mexico-Texas border, which is still quite a ways from the oil spill.

BP says the storm should be far enough away from the oil spill and the oil capturing systems not to cause any damage, however there will be higher than normal waves, and they could cause some delays. The company has released employees that not essential, andthey have been evacuated from any potential harm.

Being prepared for emergencies is really important and the CDC is a good place to check out what you need to do to be ready. There you will find all you need to know in case power is interrupted in your area. Find out what you need to know before any storm hits. Remember to check on the elderly or any persons who may need your assistance to keep them safe, too.

* Resources: Photo Associated Press

“Alex Stirs Up Searches, Fears”

by Mike Krumboltz

We want BP to get this disaster cleaned up and to cease all drilling off our shores. Join BloggersUnite to write your post for The Gulf, today!

Eggplant For Supper

I finally made Eggplant for supper and it was easy, but messy. Since I was on a veggie kick, I put together a romaine tossed salad,  and then steamed baby carrots. Sauteed Mushrooms with freshly pressed garlic sounded like a plan, so using plenty of unsalted butter and olive oil, salt and pepper, I was on my way. I tossed the carrots in a mock marriage because I love to blend flavors.

The reason I went into the kitchen at all (it’s been over 90º 17 days this month), was because it had just stormed and thankfully cooled down the temperature, if only temporarily. I took advantage of this and got coking. I dare not turn on the oven until Wednesday when temperatures will cool down considerably. I hope the severe thunderstorms will not show up because I have to unplug the computer. It is a sauna outside!

Our dinner was so good my husband ate two full plates of food. It’s good they were all vegetables. No dessert today, there’s always Wednesday, besides there are fresh berries in the refrigerator for later on.

I was inspired by Jurate, a Half Hour Meals Member. You can find so many delicious recipes there prepared by many of BlogCatalog Members that love to cook.

Pizza Appetizer

There is a little restaurant we visit sometimes that has a wood burning oven. This little tomato basil pizza is what we chose for our appetizer. It isn’t big and a slice helps curb the desire to overeat. The rest can be taken home for re-heat the next day.

It is very simple to make the dough, in fact, you my make it ahead of time, weigh out the portions (usually 2.5 ounces), and after wrapping securely, place into the freezer for future use. I’ll look around through my recipes and fine a good one to share with you. It takes a few minutes and you reap the benefits for days.

BBQ & Tarragon Chicken

This is what it looked like just before I put it under the broiler for four minutes.

Candles Wax & Wings

Candles Wax & Wings

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Inside castle walls

Protecting young wizards

Owl wings extended

Etched with the light

Of candles which

Had burned down low

Hot wax dripped upon

Wax already cold

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Theresa H Hall, June 24, 2010

New Shoes

Go ahead and try them on for size. They don’t really fit you say? It must be that we have become sedentary and fixed in our everyday lives that we forget to do new things. Reach out. It’s time to grow.

Stepping out into a new place is uncomfortable until you get the hang of things. It is important to realize that every time you challenge yourself into doing something different, that there will be hurdles and  learning curves. Why wait? Dust off your dreams and make a few new ones. It isn’t too late. All you need is a belief in the outcome and allow your feet to walk in accord with your heart. Sure … it might be strange at first and you might even fall down, but if you apply yourself and walk into your future, you will be proud that you stepped out … even when the shoes looked too big.

Shrimp-Eazy Pasta

After going to the store and hauling the food and items upstairs, four flights of eight stairs, we dashed inside to keep the air-conditioned air inside. My Father used to raise his voice and ask if we were born in a barn and why were we trying to cool the neighborhood. Point taken Dad. So we hurriedly put the food away and I told my husband I would have dinner for us in a flash. He was going to work, but I wasn’t letting him leave with an empty stomach. We both have a tendency of working in trance=like states and before we know it it’s hours since we got up and we haven’t eaten anything, other than coffee. This morning he made the pot and it tasted wonderful. “See honey, you can cook coffee beans just right. Umm.”

Here’s what I put together and it was perfectly cooked and highly pleasant to our taste buds.

Theresa’s Shrimp-Eazy Pasta

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1 package (25 count) large shrimp for cocktail (freshly steamed  from the seafood deli) This is added at the end.

1/2 stick unsalted butter + 3 more Tbsp for the pasta dish.

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 cup sliced white mushrooms

4 garlic cloves pressed

salt & pepper to taste

3-5 stalks rosemary

1/3 cup spicy cocktail sauce

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

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1/3 box angel hair pasta

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1) Boil water for pasta but don’t add the salt until just before it boils

2) Heat butter, tomatoes, mushrooms and pressed garlic and then let it simmer.

3) Add rosemary, salt & pepper.

4) Reduce heat to low.

5) Cook pasta according to directions.

6) Add shrimp and toss. Add cocktail sauce and toss.

Add olive oil and 3 Tbsp butter to bowl, salt, pepper, pasta, toss. Add remaining ingredients from saute pan and pour a glass of vino. Enjoy!

** Read my post about shopping for this bottle of wine. For lots of fast recipes visit Half Hour Meals, too! (click the widget in my sidebar)

Martha Stewart’s CupCakes

Martha Stewart’s cookbook, “CUPCAKES”, has to be the most comprehensive book about cupcakes I have ever seen. I purchased this book ten months ago and placed it with the few cookbooks I own. Because I was engrossed with many things over the past year,  the other day  was the first chance I had to discover the contents. I decided to take a good long look. While I was turning the pages and looking over recipes I was amazed by the extent and in-depth variety of this subject. It was like a cupcake dream come true.

Everything Martha does, she does it to the best of her ability. Some of you will complain that there are many people who for her work behind the scenes, and I understand this. However, it is Martha’s approval they need, her final stamp to brand it her own. If her name goes on a product you may rest assured that it is top notch and of high quality.

I urge you to get a copy of this book for your cookbook shelves, because you’ll never need another and you will be ever so glad you did. For the cooks and bakers in your life, you wouldn’t go wrong giving this as a gift to be treasured for decades.

Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Days to all Fathers, whether biological or the nurturing men who care for others as a Father would. I had a great Dad and I’ll tell you about him another day. In the meantime stay cool, we’re having a heat wave, and enjoy your time together.

PCH Pick Me!

I really want these people to knock on my door and hand me a gigantic cardboard check, showing I have won a grand prize. I fill out their sweepstakes and enter all of the time. I click and search and hope to be chosen. I would set up my dream pastry kitchen and stock if full of all those expensive ingredients.

Next, I would call up four pastry chefs and have a meeting on location, menu and finding the key employees to help run my French Patisserie. The chefs and I would get to work in setting up the walk-in freezers, and two walk-in refrigerators. One for savory food and one for pastry. You must always keep these separated, well in my world they would be. I have worked where everything is together and it is no good. The aromas from food; vegetables and fish, poultry and meats carry over. Ugh! Not for me.

My place would be clean and the restrooms would be checked every fifteen minutes, in order to remain sanitary and spotless. Guests will be able to trust that if I keep the restrooms this clean, then they can rest assured my kitchen staff and food handlers, will have the highest standards. My motto would be if you are ill, please stay home and rest so you are not bringing germs to the workplace. I would also provide hand sanitizer  for dining guests and hope they would remain at home were they not feeling good, but you cannot prevent them. (shrugging of shoulders).

My goal would be to offer many of the French desserts, classics, too, that most Americans do not know about. Introduce them to the public along with some of the regular bakery goods. Croissants, brioche, specialty cakes, fruit tarts. I would also have small intimate food instruction classes. Teach those who wish to learn how to make puff pastry, or a sable dough, even a citron tart. It would be cozy and fun. We could even do blind date cooking classes.

Oh, so back to the PCH Sweepstakes, As soon as I deposited the check, I would immediately tithe 10%, donate 10%, pay off family bills and ours, and then build my dream pastry kitchen. I do have my priorities straight. Leave dessert for last.

Bread To Share

I admire the artisan who baked this bread. It is almost stained glass in it’s appearance. It also reminds me of church and the kind of bread prepared for a religious meal, to be broken apart and shared. Can you feel the smooth bumps of the crust? Hear the sounds as it is being torn apart? Spread some sun-warmed butter onto your portion and bite into it with your teeth. Ah, the crunch of the darkened crust as you chew, the wafting aroma from the soft texture, and the satisfying results when you have eaten your fill. Bread is to be broken apart and shared.

Bacon Marinara Pasta

Ooh la la this was full of distinctive flavors. I used an effect on this photograph, which softened the edges. It seems to look a bit romantic. Believe me, I was the only one eating this bowl of pasta. There was no competition. I added a tiny salad and Blood Orange soft drink as my dessert. This was after I drank five glasses of water.

Theresa’s Bacon Marinara Pasta

1/8 box pasta of your choice

10 nice slices of mushrooms

4 garlic gloves slices and chopped a bit

1/3 stick unsalted butter

Salt & Pepper to taste

1/3 LB fresh bacon

3 large spoonfuls bacon drippings

1/3 jar Bertolli’s Hot Pepper Marinara Sauce (it’s spicy)

1 handful shredded mozzarella cheese for topping

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1) Boil sufficient water for pasta. Add salt to water just before adding pasta. Cook accordingly.

2) Fry the bacon until crispy all over. Remove pan from stove and drain bacon on paper towels. Save the bacon drippings.

3) Melt butter into small saute pan and when heated and starting to bubble, add mushrooms and cook until golden on both sides.

4) Add garlic and saute with mushrooms for 1.5 minutes. Add sauce and heat until bubbling and you can hear it sizzling, without burning. You want the vegetables to meld with the sauce.

5) Remove pasta from water and place into a serving bowl. Add the bacon drippings and toss.

6) Cover pasta with sauce.

7) Crumble most of the bacon on top, Add shredded cheese and place a few bigger pieces of bacon around. Enjoy!

** Visit Half Hour Meals for lots of recipes like these.

Start With Cereal

Starting the day today with 6 ounces of orange juice, A mug of coffee and a small bowl of cereal. It was delicious and now with my smile on my face, I am ready to face the day. I hope you have a day filled with goodness and some old-fashioned fun thrown in. Do something good for someone and let go of anything troubling you. Focus on what you can do to make this a better world.

Time For Grand Marnier

Time For Grand Marnier, originally uploaded by Theresa111.

Yes it’s that time. Time for a shot of Grand Marnier, that lovely full-bodied robust orange liquor, that cooks love to splash into sauces and I love to sip. I do imbibe five times a year and I also use this liquor in my orange butter when I make Crepes Suzette. These is something unique in the burning and warm-glow feeling as it slides down my throat. I would definitely sip on this were I still singing in clubs because it also kills the pain of vocal chord abuse.

Oh dear. Robert Klein 2010 has a new HBO special coming on right now, and he is singing an original song that seems humorously political. He has a famous way of playing his harmonica and making people laugh. Got to go for now. A few sips and I’ll feel great and look forward to August when I will sip again.

Eye On The Ball

Sometimes I am doing lots of things at once. I call it spherical living and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This decision to live in this manner keeps me on my toes and eventually reaches the deepest recesses of my dreams to make me create even though I am fast asleep. My mind is always on and even when my body is in sleep stance my brain can rotate thoughts, memories, dreams and schemes without pausing for a break. I would say that I have to conscientiously quiet my mind and become centered.

Although I do practice this meditative state, there is another department wondering about the next post, editing another article, thinking of a catchy phrase, considering what the next step will be, and the importance of socializing with bloggers, colleagues, my family, husband, showing attention to my kitties, which room I’ll clean, and asking “Did I set up the coffee pot for tomorrow morning?” The brain she is never resting, not really.

So while these matters are bouncing about, I write a new show, pen some prose, check a recipe, or review another chef or member. I listen to music, watch two televisions, glance at the news and stroll through cyber space, all with remarkable ease and speed. I promulgate, offer advice, encourage and hold onto the deep-seated belief, that in the long run everything will work out in the world, eventually, and if I keep my eye on the ball, there will be balance, interesting things to do and a wealth of friends to visit.