Denver Marathon June 23, 2007

My sister Brigid recently celebrated her 48th birthday in a most unusual way. She finished a two-day walking marathon and a half to raise funds for breast cancer. For those of you who are unfamiliar with marathons, that equals 26 miles the first day and 13 the second day.

She trained diligently for this event The weather in Denver was not terribly kind to these athletes of all ages. It was a record high in the 90's on that June 23. It was even hotter the second day.

This is day one of the marathon after approximately 8 miles. Here you see my sister Brig (on the far right). Janet (far left), age 56, from California, lost a sister 5 years ago. Rachel's (middle, age 21) whose mother was misdiagnose a year ago and the cancer has spread to her lymph system.

Brig's dear friend Gael died this past winter. A dear friend Bonnie came, from the east coast to commemorate Gael and to cheer Brigid on. The three met while on a trip to Ireland some years ago.

So what's that picture on the right you might ask? Toe savers. This was a cure for very sore and blistered feet Brig found out. Pretty darn cute aren't they?

Sweet Summer

This is what we have been waiting for. Winter grew very long and with eager anticipation spring began to unfurl the lovely perennials to give us hope once again.

Our backyard is our refuge after long days in the day job. Weather in Wisconsin can be quite tumultuous with tempting days of warmth, followed by the need to turn the furnace on once again. Will summer ever arrive is the question we ask ourselves continually.

June can be a real stinker but it is finally here. The days are long and we can enjoy evening golf if we so desire. Weekends are full with the Harbor Marketplace where I am a regular vendor with my soaps and potions.

I spend many hours getting ready for my market. This year we started Memorial Day weekend and the weather was perfect until about 1 pm when the monsoons hit and we had to break down early. Sales were fantastic as customers flocked once again to the enjoy not only the market to restock their soap supplies, but also to enjoy our gorgeous Lake Michigan lakefront.

When all is said and done, it is a joy to come home, settle the accounts and crack open a frosty beer and just enjoy the fruit of our labors in what is becoming our lush backyard.

It is fully summer. The birds reward us with their songs, the honey bees gather the nectar from our carefully planted flowers with hopes of pollination for our small vegetable garden. Everything is growing in abundance and many of the plants are having their glorious show.

My mother used to work at a small flower center in Waterford and was able to bring us some plants that were in need of a good home. With some tender care we have been rewarded with these fabulous blooms of clematis that linger for weeks. The roses are happy and the spikes are once again happy to be outdoors.

Yes, we have saved the spikes for from the small accent plants to grow them into trees, giving our northern climate a hit of the tropics.

Happy and safe July 4th to one and all.

Rhubarb

Springtime is one of the best times of the year. The trusty rhubarb plant delights us yearly with it's recurrent appearance. They require little care and nurturing, ask nothing in return but our undying devotion to new ways to serve it's bitter sweet essence.

This year I made my standby rhubarb sauce. All you need to do is clean, and cut the stalks into 1 inch pieces and toss it into a sauce pan with a little water or juice on the bottom to get it going. Cook over a medium heat just until it is soft. Remove from heat and add sugar to taste.

Serve it plain or over your favorite ice cream.

This year I found a fabulous website http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/
Anything you could possibly want is here.

I'm posting a recipe from this site that is a real winner, but I made my own variations by making my own basic yellow cake from scratch and adding some of my favorite spices. Cinnamon, allspice, mace, and nutmeg always go great in any cake! Be creative and add your own topping in place of the sugar. Yum!

Rhubarb Custard Cake

Ingredients:

Two-layer yellow cake mix
4 cups chopped rhubarb
1 cup granulated sugar
1 pint whipping cream (2 cups)

Procedure:

Prepare batter for cake mix according to package directions; turn into greased and floured 9x13" pan. Dump the chopped rhubarb on top of the cake batter. Sprinkle the sugar on top of the rhubarb. Pour the whipping cream (unwhipped) over the sugar. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, until cake springs back when lightly touched.

Cream, sugar, and rhubarb sink to bottom, forming a custard layer. Makes 1-18 (depending on how you cut it!!) dee-vine servings.

Wisconsin Spring Gardens

Chive (Allium schoenoprasum L.)

Chives are one of the first signs of spring in Wisconsin. They peak their little green spires up through the last vestiges of snow. As the first warm days are welcomed by all of us, the little chive gladly imparts it’s freshness to spring dishes.

The subtle and pleasant taste of chives makes them an extremely popular food addition in Central and Western Europe. Fresh chives, finely chopped, are frequently sprinkled over soups and vegetable stews, and several sauces, especially such based on egg or yoghurt, greatly profit from chives. Boiling, frying or baking will, though, destroy most of chives' fine aroma.

I love to go out and just pick a few and nibble on them. Very soon they produce a very pretty purple flower. This can also be used in cooking. One of my favorite way to say spring in my home it to cut the flowers and place them in a fine crystal vase. It is incredible how long they stay fresh and make a pretty centerpiece for spring entertaining.

Try this delightful chive pesto the next time you are having company and impress the heck out of your guests.

Chive Pesto

• In addition to making a great past sauce this pesto is wonderful over steamed red potatoes.
  
  2 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh chives
  1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
• 1 medium garlic clove crushed
  1/4 cup pine nuts
  1/2 tsp sea salt
  1/2 cup best-quality extra virgin olive oil
  1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  Freshly ground black pepper

Place all of the ingredients except the cheese in a food processor or blender. Process until very finely chopped, but not pureed. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and stir in the cheese. Serve over hot pasta with freshly ground pepper and additional Parmesan.

Flavorfully Yours,

Patti

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Yes it was in beautiful Sebring Florida with my good friends. It all started when my good friend Mary came over to celebrate handing her taxes over to the accountant. A bottle of wine later found us at the computer booking a spontaneous vacation to her home in Florida that she co-owns with her sister Ann.

The love of my life has asked what is with the two of us, when wine and the computer equate to a trip somewhere! It just does and yes we do have a terrific time escaping the dreary Wisconsin weather for a steady 85 degrees and sunshine.

It was one of our famous chick trips where we just laugh and eat quiche! Mary makes a wild salsa and I managed to not burn the croutons or chicken on our Caesar night!

Cindy had promised to entertain us with her extreme gecko routine, but the little lizard wasn’t about to be cornered this time.

Alas, we had to golf, drink, swim, roll over, apply more suntan lotion and swim in the pool. Life is tough sometimes but look at the great lemon we purloined from the absent neighbors tree!

Waikiki Beach

It has been a week since I returned from Maui - - my true home. I have many people ask me if that is where I reside or do I own property there. The answer is no to both questions. It is a desire and love affair to be sure.

My husband and I took our first trip to Maui six years ago and I truly found paradise there.

It started in my youth when I first saw the movie Blue Hawaii and I knew in my heart that someday I must go there. When friends returned from the islands, I never heard any of them say that they hated it, only that they wanted to go back.

We found an affordable condo and flight and made our first trip and have returned several times. This is the most delightful place that has everything you could want in a vacation spot; mountains, oceans, rain forest, waterfalls, desert, and best of all, the “aloha” spirit.

This trip was different for me because it was planned with my sister and nephew. We visited O’ahu as well as Maui. While I am not a city person and shopping does not interest me in the least, Honolulu and Waikiki were fascinating. There is a figure of something akin to 80% of all the Hawaiian island population is centered in this area! I find that to be staggering but given the sheer volume of people, I do believe it.

I much prefer the small town feeling of Maui. On our last day there we went to my favorite place, Big Beach. This is a protected state park and the only concessions to modernization are the rest room facilities and a few picnic tables. The rest is natural. It is truly such a startling beauty to behold.

My 12 year-old nephew’s eyes grew wide with wonder and amazement when he first entered the beach area from the access trail. The water is a pure crystalline turquoise, with wild waves thundering onto the shore of beautiful soft sand. The backdrop is the spectacular red hill, which is a steam vent created from the last volcano. The colors are vibrant contrasts of black, red, brown, greens, and the many shades of blue water. Each color is more brilliant than the adjoining one.

This particular day fell to the full moon and the surf was up. While beautiful, it was not conducive to snorkeling. I failed to see one of my most favorite sea creatures, the majestic green sea turtle. Due to the time of year, we were rewarded with frolicking whales enjoying the last of their season in Maui, soon to begin their long journey back to Alaska. We were also rewarded with a visiting pod of porpoises from La Perouse point. I find their paired and undulating swim through the channel to be an exciting privilege to view. We were also privileged to see what appeared to be small deer traversing the hillside.

My heart yearns for this place and simply feels settled and at home when I am at Big Beach. It is unlikely that I will ever leave Wisconsin and settle in my dream place, but it is good to dream of paradise. This is where I have found it and will return at every opportunity.

Aloha and mahalo.

Winter’s Lion

It has been one cold nasty spell here in Wisconsin and throughout the states. How very strange to have thunder and lightening while snowing. Driving is 3 inches of slush is no great delight either.

The folks that didn’t need to go out this past week should have been wise and just stayed home. It was ugly. I am located near the lake as the weathermen say and we do get a great variety of weather that does not apply to the rest of the state.

One of the funny weather events involved a drive to the hospital one morning. The lightening was striking directly into the ground and how I wished I had a camera to capture this most unusual event, since it was also snowing like crazy. When I arrived in the parking lot, my first thought was that Aurora was right on top of things and had the foresight to get out and salt the lot. Foresight is not a usual part of our maintenance team, so why I would think that for even a moment is ludicrous.

What I initially took for salt, was little ice balls, making the trek from the lot into the hospital all that much more treacherous. One of my great fears is falling while “and I can’t get up” echoes in my mind. Yup, must bet getting older with a fear for my hips.

Little old ladies are ladies with broken hips are our frequent Sunday companions in surgery. They go to church and never quite make it home the same day without a stop at the local hospital.

Visions of seed catalogs are dancing in my head these days as the light is now a part of my drive to and from work. I do like that. It gives me hope for spring. I am weary of the darkness, cold, ice, slippery travel, and the numbskulls on the road that haven’t bothered to invest in decent tires event though snow is an annual event in Wisconsin. And of course they feel they own the road and must drive in the left lane and block all the drivers who do know how to drive and plan for the weather.

Even though I no longer commute to Milwaukee daily, it never ceases to amaze me that I can still feel road rage at the other discourteous drivers who feel that they are the only ones on the road and that they own it. In my particular instance, sometimes I hope that it is their relative that is waiting for me in surgery on an emergent basis, while they slow me down with unconscious driving habits.

As usual dear reader, I remain
Fragrantly Yours,
Patti