no matter where we spend thanksgiving, my family always prepares a full blown traditional meal at our home to have when we return. every year i make my grandmother's Irish potato sage butter dressing. one for us and one to take. it never fails when i start to peel the memories start to flood my mind. for me thanksgiving brings great life lessons. it is about giving thanks. go to the poor and you will find God~ St. Vincent de Paul. that is just what my grandfather would do. he was a small man with a giant heart. we would gather food and take to so many doorsteps. what i truly remember about these moments was his silence. he would quietly gather the goods not telling anyone the purpose. we would spend hours driving around and when done we would return to our family without a word of the good deeds. i wanted everyone to know what my grandfather and i had done. but he sat eating turkey as if nothing great had transpired. this was my first thanksgiving without my two daughters. that was hard. but you can not know what you have if you have nothing to compare it to. i knew they would see how others celebrated and next year they will bring in a new recipe. one experienced a Mexican Thanksgiving day. not a turkey in site but lots of homemade fair. she called so excited when they too had delivered food to a very poor school where one of the family teaches. my other daughter calls from her friends home in the same neighborhood where we lived when she was born. the next day she calls from the street that is her namesake. change and growth are hard but when you have foundation and tradition the ground will shake under your feet. and then... there are some things you never want to repeat. we do have some hunters in the family but mostly just gatherers. my dad is not a hunting man. never had a firearm in his house. he is an extreme gardener and loves day lilies. well the squirrels have descended and he is obsessed like chevy chase in caddyshack with the gofer. no explosives just a pellet gun. well it is something like dad 2 squirrels 22. while mom is cooking or going to church, not sure where mom was but there are no witnesses to this deed. HMMM come to think there is no evidence. that is a good thing as what i tell is an act against a bird on the protected migratory list, with up to a $10,000 fine. this was no turkey and we will not make this a tradition. dad was trying to scare a bird from the pond and accidentally shot a beautiful blue heron. he experienced a little guilt, my dad not the bird. but he recovered and ate the turkey not the heron. humility and charity are the two master chords one the lowest one the highest. on these all others are dependent. ~St. Vincent De Paul. the foundation and the roof. this is what i am most grateful to have been given. live a life of justice,temperance,fortitude and prudence.

America's love affair with the automobile has brought this country to its knees.

just acknowledge she is right, we are all selfish. one must take care one oneself before you can take care of others. at 21 you have given her wings to fly and enough love to land safely.

how can i continue to walk in my normal life with all the greif in the world. money to charity is not enough. i have the back and desire to put in the time. give me direction to channelmy energy and prayer.

the problem with war is that everyone thinks they are the good guys!

what is it with everyone having a bucket list? i think everyone missed the meaning. never live your life on a list you might miss something not on the list!........ oh yea and may i never say " it can't get any better than this" it might.

what's for dinner?

what's for dinner

on this new years' eve heading to 2010 there is a blue moon and we are opening a blue top caviar which will be enjoyed with lobster and a veuve clicquot. now on 01-01-10 it will be dixie caviar and bloody marys. our life with food is intimate and certain foods bring memories.
before i married my husband he cooked a fillet for me. it was in a simple iron skillet and it was the best i had ever tasted. i think the saying should go a way to a woman's' heart is through her stomach. we are both gastronomes and oenophiles and have spent the last 25 years cooking our way to a better marriage. if you can work together in the kitchen you can work anywhere. we have three children and all love to cook and appreciate fine cuisines. when first married we were in a tough real estate market in california. so we decided to give away in home gourmet dinners for new home buyers. they were so popular we had other realtors giving our gift of food. what great fun and we met so many wonderful people. we would come in when all was still in boxes. we would set up the tablescape and bring everything from fine china to flowers and edible centerpieces. it was truly about the food. my husband is an amazing chef and gourmand but together we were amazing. we could whip up delightful fair in crazy places. once we did a dinner for four out of a laguna niguel vacation condo with nothing but a microwave with convection oven. ahh! the roquefort wine cream sauce almost separated. we added a caveat to our dinners after several couples were expecting babies right after our dinners. the first couple had a house at the bottom of palos verdes almost on the ocean. they had just bought a four acre horse farm. the house had to be adjusted yearly by engineers due to the land movement. but it was an amazing view of the ocean not seen by many from that coastline. we always do a lot of research on the menus. there have been french themed caribbean fare and many others. usually inspired by our travels. some of my favorite events have been auction dinners. we would give dinner reenactments as auction items. these dinners took a lot of research one i remember vividly was the dinner for the czar. when the russian czar visited france. i believe veuve cliquot was served and they took it back to st. petersburgh. it was difficult menu to acquire all the ingredients. we were known for flying in fresh seafood and black truffles. and the vino would flow. oh what nights!