Today is it the first snow of the season.  Here are a few pictures of what I see and how it has blanketed the condo. We’re on the top so we get a great view. I love the snow. It makes everything feel fresh and clean. A new beginning.  Here is a picture I just took of what I see from my desk as I look at the skylight. (the fan needs to be wiped off!) Oh. No!

I believe we should all allow ourselves a new beginning. Let go of the past hurts and disillusions and look to the future and the promise of tomorrow.

Saturday morning and we will be drinking our French Roast coffee and eating a pastry. We wait until the weekend to eat them because then we feel as if we are having a treat. We eat pancakes about twice a month and bowls of cereal a few times a month. My favorite is an all out three egg, over light, breakfast with sides of meat and fluffy yet crispy hash browns. Chipped beef gravy or creamed chipped beef is one of my favorite things, a biscuit on the side and I like to eat it with a spoon.

The first time I recall eating this was when I was four and we were living on Staten Island. We were there for 3 1/2 years. My Father, who was such a wonderful cook, would take his time preparing this recipe. He shared that if he did not cook the milk long enough, it might make my tummy hurt. The old army term was SOS. I shan’t explain. But he cooked it to a boil and turned the flame down. He allowed it to softly boil for a full eight minutes as he stirred it. Back then he added an ingredient called ACCENT, which is MSG. I used to use it too, for many years, until one day I began having heart palpitations after ingesting it. I later found out MSG was used in many foods, especially Chinese food, which I dearly love. End result is that I finally gave it up.

Breakfast is so varied and consists of anything from a cup of tea, coffee, milk or juice, to the full monty. I have heard it said that it is the most important meal of the day. Lately I have been eating later and later and feeling shaky. I have, over the past few days eaten breakfast, just a small amount in order to feel balanced. I found the food kept the shakiness at bay and my day went much smoother. Hey. The body needs fuel.  

Today it is going to snow and it is one of my favorite things to see. It will be the first time I have been somewhere other than our house that we sold last week. That place looked almost magical when we had a good amount of snow. Here … let me show you some photos.

I hope I won’t miss it too much, but here we are now in a cool place. We have skylights and a balcony so we can watch the snowflakes and drink our coffee and eat our croissants or danish. We are fortunate in our friendship, our families, our marriage and our lives.

The moral to this story is to eat a breakfast, even if it is a small one. Don’t give yourself treats everyday or you might not appreciate them and to stop and watch the snowflakes. Did you know no two are ever alike?

Laminated Doughs / Classic Puff Pastry

Laminated means layers.  Puff pastry consists of two components. A de trempe and a beurrage. Made separately, they are combined prior to the turning stages. The dough is now conditioned with rolls and turns, rests and repeats. The end results are flaky, tender and delicious baked goods. In France a pound of flour must have a minimum of 5 ounces of butter to be called classic puff pastry. We use tant pour tant, which means equal values; one pound of flour to one pound of butter. Many chefs test bake a small piece of puff dough to see how well it will perform.

de trempe

1 lb gold medal unbleached flour

1 t salt

2 T crisco

1 cup cold water

2 drops lemon juice or vinegar

1) Flour, salt and crisco in mixing bowl.  Attach paddle and stir to cut in the crisco, about two minutes.

2) Add water by distributing it around the bowl.  Don’t overwork dough.

3) Final mix in the bowl with your hand .

4) Remove the dough.  Round it and rest it.  Cut 1/2″ criss-cross on the top of the dough as it relaxes more.  Drape it with plastic wrap and rest 30 minutes room temperature and then 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

beurrage

16 oz butter

3 to 4 oz gold medal unbleached flour

1) Place butter into a clean mixing bowl.  Attach paddle.

2) Cut with a small amount of flour until blended at high speed.

3) Shape 1″ high x 5″ square.  Pat down with a little flour.

4) Wrap with 2 sheets of deli paper and store in the refrigerator until ready to combine with detrempe. About 30 minutes to a hour.

Remove the detrempe from the refrigerator and roll out, starting from the center, outward in four directions…making a square. Place the beurrage into the square on a diagonal. Bring each corner up to cover the beurrage, meeting in the middle.

Walk out the dough, over the two ends of the dough that meet in the middle, like an envelope. Knuckle by pressing down and roll out 10″ wide x 14″ to 16″ long.  Brush off excess flour and fold inward into thirds, resting the last part with the edges to your right. Walk out in the direction of the dough and mark with one finger imprint. Wrap with plastic wrap, loosely and rest in the fridge about 30 minutes. Repeat this process next time double turn and rest. The process is one single one double turn x3 for a total of six turns. Remember to work quickly. Handle the dough when it is cold and use your refrigerator to control the temperature of the dough.  Proof the dough or you will end up cooking the bottom.

Roll out 1/8″ thickness. Cut with sharp knife or cutter, shape, egg wash, cool in fridge and bake according to recipe.  375º to 400º about 25 minutes and a little more for drying. A hot oven will give you the explosion of steam to make it puff. Dock or vent accordingly.

Variations: Shell filled with sweet or savory recipe, or bouchere a band filled with pastry cream and fruit, vented and baked, turnovers filled with fruit and fleuron which is a classic French garnish served with fish, to name a few.

Freezes nicely.

** Brie En Croute **

Wrap rounded brie cheese inside puff pastry and seal using a little water to hold and bind bottom edges together. Braid 12″ to 18″ cord and decorated the mound. Egg wash and bake in hot oven @ 375º to 400º about 25 minutes or until a deep golden brown.

Do not ever stand too close!

I like this photograph because it reminds me that we are riding on on a living planet. It reminds me that Thursdays are the preclude to Fridays, which is the beginning of the weekend and it heralds staying up later than usual on a weeknight because Friday is one day more to work through before the weekend gets here.

Late last night we had a swift but forceful rain storm pass through. It was the non-scary kind, so I was enjoying snuggling down beneath the covers. I felt secure. I felt safe. The sound of the rain on the rooftop and as it pelted the windows and skylights lulled me back to sleep. This morning when I threw open the windows, the air was clean and crisp.

We just downsized from 4,800 Square Foot house, to a perfect 1,500 Square Foot condo. It has just the right amount of space and further discourages random purchases and to begin the final purge of belongings and things we have stored over the past 25 years. We fully intend to get rid of the trappings and to release usable items and those which are perfect but of no real interest any longer, to those who might wish to have them. It is a blessing to share and a curse to hold onto these objects any longer. I choose freedom.

Next week, Bloggers Unite is sponsoring two events which are close to my heart. One is for Human Rights and the second is for Animal Rights. It takes the world to come together for those who cannot speak for themselves or who lack the freedom to do so. It takes a small effort of each of us to purge how we feel about the ones who take advantage of the downtrodden. Come join with bloggers around the world to write this December 10th. Make a difference and your heart will feel glad.

Baked Mini Pate a Choux, originally uploaded by Theresa111.

Pastry Dough

Pate a Choux / Eclair Paste
Gougere / Quenelle

This recipe cooks the flour before baking. Hence, it is twice cooked bakes to a golden brown, is crisp, hollow and slightly moist inside. It can be filled with sweet cream, custard, fruit or savory mixtures. The dough is most often piped, sometimes spooned and can be deep fried. It is a natural container.

8 oz milk
4 oz butter chopped small
7 oz AP flour
1/2 t salt
5 large eggs

1) Combine milk and butter in a heavy medium saucepan. Bring to a full boil. Remove from heat.
2) Add salt to the flour, mix and then add to the heated milk mixture. Blend together making a panade.
3) Return to heat and stir constantly until dough flakes, cracks and some sticks to the bottom of the pan.
4) Put panade into 5 qt mixer, attach the paddle and stir until cool about ten minutes.
5) Slowly, one at a time, add eggs until each egg is absorbed into the panade before incorporating in the next egg. Be sure not to cook the eggs. They need to be able to rise in the oven.
6) Add water a teaspoon at a time until choux is the right consistency. The panade will not clear the bowl.
What is the consistency of the choux paste at the end of the combination? Remember, you want to shape and bake the choux. If it become too hard it may explode in the oven. Test for consistency readiness by: raising the paddle and looking at the dough. The finger test. The kiss test. It should be firm enough to pipe and soft enough to bake.

For delicate shapes use the choux paste right away. Otherwise tomorrow will be alright just store it in stainless bowl with plastic wrap. Ready to pipe: use no. 5 tip and pipe into varying shapes. It will double in size so be sure to give enough spacing on the baking sheet. Egg wash and water fork. Bake 375º to 400º 15 to 18 minutes. For a larger piece bake for 25 to 30 minutes. During baking do not open the oven door.

Yield is 3 or 4 8″ tart shells.

The first time I heard about this deadly disease was in 1984. There was a news report published on the front page of  The Washington Post. It mentioned AIDS was unique in that a patients immune system would stop protecting itself. It was a degenerative illness and mostly affected very poor peoples of Africa and some folks with alternate lifestyles. Mostly it was attacking men, and research was about to begin to find a cure. I recall thinking to myself that this was a terrible thing and hoped a cure was going to present itself quickly.

Twenty-five years later and 25,000,000 people laid to rest from AIDS is astonishing and saddening. Too many children, 15,000,000 have been orphaned around the world and the race for the cure is still ongoing.

AIDS touches most people’s lives today. We all have lost loved ones or friends to this determined disease or know of someone who has it or the HIV virus. It is no longer a poor persons or homosexual disease. Men, women and children have been infected and also waste away to die a lonely and sad but tragic death. Tragic because there are medicines which could help those with the virus, to keep it in check.

Here are a few places to find facts and answers or to donate money to fund people who really need our help.

Bloggers Unite

Media Planet

POZ

Rap It Up

I just read that fc2 female condom … Her method to help prevent HIV/AIDS is now available at CVS District of Columbia stores, and will soon be available in neighborhood stores.

Unprotected sex, dirty needles, blood transfusions or contaminations from blood, are the most common reasons for the spread of this disease. Get checked, be safe, and donate to help those who sorely need our help.

Wanted to remind you that you still have time to join in to write a blog about this effort to stop the spread of AIDS. Click the link in my side bar.

This past week has been a blur of activity and stress. We haven’t had much sleep during this time and until last night, we averaged perhaps four hours. Sleep is not overrated. It is what encourages your body to function properly and allows you to have endurance and strength.

We rented the last of seven trucks to clear out the remaining of our belongings, from our home of twenty years. From last November, when I began going through my desk area, to January when I began sorting and packing and donating. We relocated to a condo, last January, going from 4800 SQ FT to 1500 SQ FT. Huge difference. To free ourselves from the accumulation of those last two decades was very hard, saddening, frustrating and tiring.

We have been exhausted keeping up two house holds. My guy was traveling an extra 25 to 35 miles per day just to stop by the property, make certain the different realtors showing the property had left the lights on, locked the doors and windows, put the alarm on and that the property was not displaying vacant appearance. There have been many instances  where homes for sale have been vandalized or broken into. Thankfully ours was protected.

We went to settlement Wednesday and the new owner is a lovely woman who is very excited to own her new home. She and her new husband seem very nice and we feel as if our old home will have a new mommy and daddy. I hope there will be many children and pets to play inside and in the huge backyard. We released this house into good hands and now, we move on.

We were responsible stewards, taking care of the utilities and lawn care and security monitoring. We scrubbed and wiped and cleaned, then lifted and packed and hoisted and moved, until we didn’t know if we were coming or going. We are thankful. Yes we are!

Yesterday we had my middle sister and her husband over for the family meal. I prepared everything. I only consumed one-half of the food on my plate then I  saved the remainder. I packaged up to-go food and gave away my whole pumpkin pie. I was very tired. Too tired to cut it in half. I totally did not take any photographs, even though my digital camera was five to ten feet away from me. I shrug my shoulders because I am too thankful and full to chastise myself. So what. Tomorrow’s another day.

Sometimes words are unnecessary.

For food and words click Half Hour Meals.

Sure you can help!

Visit Half Hour Meals and read Food For Thought Blog to see what I am doing to ward off hunger right in my community.

I shall take a snapshot after I bag it up, as I am delivering it to my church rectory tomorrow. The secretary will have the perfect family stop by for a surprise. I feel as if it is Thanksgiving already! Thank you Father for allowing me to serve others. I am grateful for everything.

I decided to put the food into two doubled bags to make it easier to carry. We dropped them off right before attending Mass.

I was told there are over 1,000 families in out parish who are requesting assistance. The times are here to usher in a whole new way to be of service to people who live close by. How worried they must all feel. Prayers and little deeds can always help.

Even if you do not have cash to assist someone, think about doing charitable acts. Opening doors. Offering to help an elderly person to shop for them, cut out coupons for families. clean, cook, dust or vacuum once a month. Little things to help. Write a letter for someone who cannot see very well anymore. Read or sing to people in nursing homes. Visit an orphanage. The list is endless … so choosing one or a few to do will be such a blessing. Thanks for considering this matter!

** After service people were a the back of the church choosing names from a tree. They are for presents and I chose one for a Sister at a convent on my state. I am already planning surprises for her. Her wish list: blank cards and forever postage stamps. She is 93 years old and I am going to make her package be filled with more than these items. I no longer have my parents nor my husband’s parents. I will treat her like she is family. The holidays are definitely looking up!

Rainy Boston, originally uploaded by bsalomon.

Rainy Night Jazz

Brushstrokes
Painted gently
Across the tops of
Drum cymbals
Moved me into that
Place of creative void
Which was eagerly
Awaiting my arrival

All disturbances
Retreated
To rain washed
City streets
Yellow taxis
Carried home fares
While pedestrians
Dodged rainfall
Newspapers were
Used as shields
Like umbrellas

I carried on
Unhindered
Sounds of trumpets
Filled my head
Passersby glanced up
To see me writing
At the table
Where I sat

Oblivious
To curious looks
Their movement
But a blur
Beyond my thoughts
That spilled across
The page.

© Theresa H Hall
November 17, 2009
@ 5:28 PM

Who will stand with me? Who will stand and honor our Veterans? They give it all. They sacrifice everything to serve our country and by putting us first. Where would we otherwise find such people? Courage is an incredible gift and our service men and women are brave to place themselves in front of any enemy, to stand in-between them and us. Us … We The American People.

These men and women step up to the plate, take what’s dished out. Do what their superior officers order them to do, and accept whatever comes their way. They have determination, true grit and a deep love of their country. Which means they love us.

In my family there are nine veterans, with one still active duty and getting ready to retire after 24 years service, and many tours under fire. Even his younger brother had multiple combat tours. His own son joined and served in a combat zone. We do not believe in war, but the men on both sides of my family believe in our country and what it stands for. They have received medals of bravery and we are proud of their service in the military.

Two members of my family were wounded during two different wars. And even if the others were not physically hurt, they all carry with them the anguish of war, from both sides. The mental images of terrible events get unwittingly replayed in their minds, even after decades, to torture and hinder their everyday lives. There is counseling but it is likened to a band-aid cure. The scars in the minds of my loved ones and all of the other men and women, and the innocent victims, are deep … they continue to maim.

Together, we must stop playing so much and take the time out of our days to reach out and lend a hand or volunteer. Please visit the link at the top of this post and read, watch videos and determine if you can spare something of yourself in giving back to our men and women who place everything they hold dear, on the line … for you and for me. Do some unselfish giving. That equates to giving without expecting anything in return. Do you have it in you to step up to this plate?

To all the families on both sides of war, I keep you in my prayers. I pray for an end to all war, all ugliness, all hate, all jealousy and greed. Haven’t we had enough?

At my house, sometimes it just comes down to kicking and shoving. Now don’t read this the wrong way, I just mean that after prodding and cajoling my taller half, I must resort to tough action when it comes to getting him out the door to go to work. Yes, I admit I have to shove him into the foyer and kick him out the door. All this after telling him to have a nice day, giving generous hugs and meaningful kisses. I literally have to get him to leave. I kick him out.

It isn’t that he does not want to go but he gets involved in other matters. His studio, the newscasters on the television, who I have heard him disagree with out loud. Does anyone else’s husband talk to the TV as if these people can hear them giving their opinions? I must admit that I do this once in a while myself. But he does it in the car too, with radio show hosts. He’s the politically minded one and I only become involved when the mood strikes.

Today I sent him off to the office with an array of baked goodies to share with his co-workers. There is another cake waiting for him when he gets there. These people want to eat the cake and the longer he took to get ready, meant they had to wait longer to enjoy some sweets. Everyone will be high on sugar for days.

Oh, that’s right … he told me we weren’t going to eat sugar or white flour anymore. I am a baker for crying out loud. Of course I am going to continue using these vital ingredients. He will just have to forego eating the goodies I have already planned to make. It’s so convenient for him to expound on the virtues of not eating this or that, after the fact. After he has already had his lion’s share of a particular food group. I figured out a long time ago that since no one supposedly makes it out of here (planet Earth/life) alive, then I am going to eat whatever I damn well please.

Today, I have interviews to type, research to do … the subject is a sweet one, chocolate & candy making, plus I am working on my Thanksgiving Menu. This year is going to be traditional with a huge twist. Thank goodness. I think it is going to reflect a lot of Italian, with seafood appetizers and side dishes, along with a little French dessert on the side. No pumpkin pies after the big bird this year. No chocolate cream pie. No Floating Island  … gosh … (Melody is now on the west coast … I love that dessert). Loud sighs.

This year is the first time in fifteen years that I am hosting dinner in our home. We do not have two dinners to eat, nor do we have to travel. We won’t be bringing two dishes, or helping in someone else’s kitchen. I would be the one helping in the kitchen. He would be the one helping to watch the football game. It will be the same except that I will prepare the whole shebang.

Back to my, kicking him out, topic. He is a man that likes to take not only his time, but mine as well, getting out the door. Knowing full well that his friends were waiting to surprise him, there was nothing for it but to get into the spirit of things. He’ll have such a good time, plus they will get more than just one dessert. Cool! A big thank you to all of the gang at the fort.

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday Dear Joe

Happy Birthday To You!

This is a photograph of legendary Miles Davis. I find it therapeutic to my psyche to listen to this genius musician.

Joe introduced us about 1987 during a recording session at his studio. I found Joe doing musical chops on bass, as he played along with a jazz record. Descending the staircase I slowed my approach just so I could hear this new song. I listen closely to appreciate his skill, which was equal to the maestro horn player. Mostly what I heard was the bass but I caught the sounds bleeding from the headphones. I lingered allowing my feet to tread lightly upon the wooden steps. I knew Joe practiced along with Weather Report and DeBussey but I was unsure who this was.

As I peered down at him, his back to me, left arm poised, his fingers were rapidly and accurately following the intricate melody. He made it seem effortless and as I walked quietly to stand before him, I saw that his eyes were closed. Fat earphones covered his ears and his head moved smoothly to a rhythmic pace. He kept the beat and timing by doing this and I could see his foot was also tapping out the tempo in a comfortable groove.

At  the end of the song, Joe’s eyes flashed open and he smiled slowly. He looked so happy and relaxed. I asked him if he would remove the earphones and repeat the song for I had never heard it before. He obliged me by testing the volume on the big speakers first, then carefully picking up the diamond needle, he gently placed it into the groves prior to the song I had requested. Joe looked away into the distance as his fingers took off to travel up and down the neck of the instrument. In a few moments his eyes closed, probably because when music and performance is quite personal, eye closure takes one to the place where talent and emotion meet. The full sounds were incredible.

By the end of one song, I was hooked on this artist. “Who is that?” I inquired enthusiastically pointing to the record, which by now was starting to slow in the number of its rotations. “Miles Davis.” Joe answered with a slight reverence in his voice. He told me more about the artist who was a jazz icon and just why I didn’t know his music, was beyond me, as I had been working the music scene for years by then. I guess exposure is the best teacher when it comes to any art.

We have been listening to Miles Davis in companionable accord ever since. Miles and Joe are jazz lifestyles of which I shall never tire.

Seek out good things and and always enjoy great memories.