Recipe

Many years ago, I came across a copy of The Best from Libby Hillman's Kitchen: Treasured Recipes from 50 Years of Cooking and Teaching (Woodstock, VT: Countryman Press, 1993). I had never heard of her, but at the time we were living not very far from the Vermont town in which she lived. I learned that she had been quite a teacher and cookbook writer in Great Neck, NY, before moving up to southern Vermont to live near her daughter, who ran a restaurant, and also to live near Marlboro College, with its great summer music festival (she was also a musician; a Julliard graduate, as a matter of fact).

We had been going to the West Brattleboro Farmer's Market waaaay back then, and I finally put the redoubtable lady determinedly going from booth to booth with her basket under her arm together with her author photo on the dust jacket. It was secretly thrilling to see an actual author ambulate about the proceedings.

Although I don't cook very often from her book, there is a little recipe that goes with EVERYTHING. She called it Dry Rub, but we call it Libby's Rub, and you will not want to be without it ever again. It goes with beef, pork, chicken, oven roasted potatoes—well, you decide. We double this:

1/4 cup kosher salt
1 T pepper
1/2 t dry mustard
1/2 t allspice
1 T each thyme and marjoram
1/4 t cayenne pepper

Mix up and store in a lidded jar.

Still looking up, Betty! I think we made it. Are you ready for another go in JUNE??

Sunday

was spent for the most part working on two ongoing projects, and shaping up a sample chapter to submit for the consideration of the publisher for a large (lucrative, I hope) project. Fingers crossed that things are looking up!

L got a fancy iPod for buying a Mac (rebate makes it free). I think if I had such a gadget I'd never get anything done. It has wireless connection to just about everything, including radio stations. Earphones, take me away . . . To think that when I was about her age, the only thing to drag me away was the Mike Douglas Show after school. And the actual telephone, anchored in the kitchen. No dragging a receiver around the house.

Remus and Soul Adjust

Quiznos, baby!

Yes, L had her first training day. She gets to wear black pants, black shoes, black official Quiznos t-shirt, black Q apron AND a hat. They practiced making sandwiches. Tomorrow, more training. I will try to take a photo, though I've been told I'm ABSOLUTELY forbidden, of her in her regalia.

There is one issue: parking. Yes, even though city is trying to promote tourism, they metered every last inch of downtown, OR created privately run parking lots. Not much sense in a service-driven society.

Wrinkles

I've had a lot this week: Internet wrinkles, job wrinkles, dog tinkles that become wrinkles. Even though we keep our beady eye on that dog, she jingles off in an instant, probably through some wrinkle in time, to deposit a wee bit of herself in the far reaches of the living room.

happy wrinkles, all!

A puppy

ate my damn Internet connection! Or maybe that's "a damn puppy ate my Internet connection!!!"

I was without it all day, until L suggested turning everything off and checking the connections. The M***S***** people were no help at all. They used to be a regional company, but sadly have gone "off shore," as they say.

new opportunity

arrived in e-mail, but I have to "audition" for it, and it is both developmental and copy editing, so D and I will work on it together, if we get it. Good to open up the pipeline to another employer, but once again, asking for more bang for less buck. Oh well.

Monday

Can things get more chaotic? I think not

Oh to be in

England. I'm deeply into my little River Cottage guides, and channeling myself somewhere next the sea. It's an interesting mental trick to picture yourself somewhere you're not quite sure of, and to mediate on it so strongly that for a moment you really are there. Wherever there is.

And then there's Big Sur . . . We shall see.

Saturday

desultory; working, hoping D gets more income coming in. Can't handle much more on my own. Editing so time consuming. Publishing has changed so much in the past 20 years, it's an almost unrecognizable pursuit.

When I think of the deep edits on paper, and the quick Find option in Word on the computer: they just don't compare. Despair? Can't let it in.

Onward and upward, I say. It's all I can say.

* * *

A girl prepared

a great graduation; the valedictorian's speech was spot on, too.





Onward and Upward, L! The Oberlin Big Book of Forms was awaiting us in the PO box, as was an alumna sticker from school! Changes in the works, for sure.

Plus, my little handbook from River Cottage, Edible Seashore, about foraging at the edge, came too. I need to get myself to England soon. Finances need shaping up, though.

graduation

is tomorrow! Class Day was today; I'm still not sure what that means.

Miss Remus was "crated" while we were out today; she was yipping when we got back. This isn't boding well for being at the ceremony tomorrow, and then going for a celebratory lunch out.

Any suggestions, dog owners?

a cat's-eye view

a view of the herbs: mint and oregano. I'm reacquainting myself with my backyard, now that I have Remus's exercise regime to oversee . . .

Tune Tuesday!!!

This just in . . .

L got herself a job at Quiznos! Starting Saturday, the day after graduation.

The floor is open for fast-food work tales, good and bad

busy

Yikes; this will be one busy week. 3 editing projects ongoing, graduation, trying to keep up w/the Pilates Challenge of 3 mat classes a week, plus blogging. What was I thinking? Miss Remus Jean, the puppy, is a challenge in the house-breaking department (not robbery, I hasten to add).

Torrential downpour brought with it the steamy humidity of high summer. A perk for my hair, but not much else.

Roast chicken for dinner; greens from the garden. that's it!

medical, dental . . .

I'm a bit at sea with all these new projects coming in from the big client my packager has secured. Textbook publishing is heading more and more in the direction of allied health areas. My AMA Manual of Style and Taber's are getting a work out. Testbanks and more testbanks, as well as another edition of the "how to stay healthy" text, which is more interesting, but must be a very expensive book to buy. Lots of art/photos.

Hard to stay focused, when all the sentences read like this: On examination, her temperature is 98.6°F, and you see an erythematous and edematous external auditory canal with a small amount of purulent discharge. What is the most likely diagnosis?

Friday

The last day of high school . . . EVER! A momentous day, and I have a photo of toddler L in her little fancy blue bathing suit with the pink fish on it taken at the Island City House in Key West lo, those many years ago.

I still have those shorts I'm wearing, as a matter of fact.

summer is coming in; two versions:

Mystery . . .

Nancy Drew, of course. Who doesn't remember (well, you would if you'd been a girl, anyway) Nancy with her titian hair and her friends, boyish George and plump Bess. And her roadster. Didn't you want to hop in and zoom (perhaps not zoom) off? Carson Drew was her father, and Hannah Gruen the housekeeper. Yes, Nancy had lost her mother at 3 or at 10, depending on which book you read.

Carolyn Keene, the author, was apparently many people, but Nancy herself was the original creation of a book packager named Edward Stratemeyer, who also created the Hardy Boys.

There is quite a bit under this Wiki link . . .

Repose

Quiet. Shhh.

yip, yip, yip yiiiiiiiip!

Yes, miss Remus was crated, along with an old towel, a new towel, a cat toy that she had been tearing the bejesus out of, and a new rubber ball with a jingle bell inside.

The only thing left out was "something blue."

Which I became halfway through a very long night. L has her iPod and a fan whirring away as white noise. We had spine-tingling yelps, which would subside . . . then end! The arms of Morpheus awaited me not, because these periods were short lived. The cycle continued. I'm surprised we didn't get a knock on the door to find out why we were torturing an animal.

The DVD on dog training did NOT explain how to get the dog to accept the crate; it showed several happy dog owners reading, or doing other domestic chores, while their various dogs obediently and silently lay in their mesh crates.

We will see what happens next.

Tune Tuesday!!!

dogged

I guess I must remain so; my experience runs only to cats who are litter box trained in the twinkling of an eye. Not so Remus, who turns out to be a she rather than a he (further exposing what I don't know concerning dogs). Last night she produced a gusher on my bed, before leaping off to finish on the rug. The cats were not amused.

Though Remus has an excellent disposition, she also seems not to like being crated. She protests with a piercing howl! At present, she is dish-rag floppy on my lap.

A Dog for the Dogless

My cell rang, and it was B, telling me to go see some of the cutest puppies in the world in the WalMart parking lot. Jack Russells and Jack/Pit Bull mix. Well, you can imagine that I was in no mood for that kind of nonsense. But my car was not in my control, it seems, because I found myself turning into WalMart (I NEVER go there), looking for the "Free Puppies" sign. Well. What can I say?

Welcome, Remus.

Saturday

Well, this is one of those days when the expected happens, but it's still quite unexpected. I hope you're finally at peace, Dad.

Hey

I was in the grocery store the other day, explaining to my checkout friend that yes, I did actually work (she assumed I was a woman of leisure). When I told her what I did, she said, "Hey, I went to school for that! I wish I could do that, too!"

Who knew copy editors were cool? I am bound and determined to see the up side. Yes, I know it's an uphill battle for me, but still . . .

Are my projects all fascinating? Absolutely not.

Do I have more coming in than I know what to do with? Absolutely!

Do I learn something new every day? Definitely!

Am I stuck in traffic? Never!

Theme Thursday: Pink

thank you, wikipedia, for the image

The thing that leapt to mind was pinking shears and cutting felt to make pin cushions. The satisfying pull of the fabric through the teeth, and the perfectly little notches. A friend made these little pins at Valentine's Day for sales, and it brought back all the concentration of childhood for me. They are just as lovely as the photo.

thank you, purl bee, for the image.

I suppose I'm primed to return to sewing. I'm returning all my stuff—sewing machine, loom, wheel—this summer, back to the spare room, which will be more cosy, and of course end my list of excuses for not getting down to the studio and working. The studio will be here!

It's a New Day . . .

Yesterday, L voted. For the first time ever! in the local Republican primaries. In this state anyone can vote in a primary; you don't need to be a registered party member.

I was concerned to see how many little lawn signs were up for the contender for the seat held by our longtime moderate Republican county commissioner, but thought surely these were so numerous because he lives in this town. But so does our longtime moderate commissioner. The contender is pretty much a libertarian, who is an elder in the Presbyterian church, a self-described small businessman, who is a lawyer.

Hmm. When I opened the paper, the headline was, yes, "Contender Beats Incumbent"! We'll see what happens in the general election in August when he faces his opponent, an Independent (also Libertarian). This will have deep-seated ramifications for the new schools in the county and monies for such socialist notions as library funding and sidewalks, I would imagine.


Anyway, back to L; someone rang a bell to signify she was a new voter, and when she left, she was given this little symbol. Make of it what you will.

Tune Tuesday!!!

Here are some songs I really like lately!

-L

Music Monday

I couldn't resist Polyphonic Spree, in the search for upward (I first saw this on another blog a few years ago):

Sunday

L's May Day bouquet

It's the day after prom; L spent the night with a friend at her APARTMENT! yes, this girl's parents have an apt downtown for their daughter to use during the week, as it is too far to drive back and forth to her house. Well, I was a bit conflicted about the fact there would be no parent there; on the other hand, they are 18. Well, it is out of my hands soon, anyway. Right? and L is quite self-possessed, so . . . Betty C., perhaps you can offer some advice on this topic. (I'm hoping for some musical links to you, too, BC.)

***

Hugh F-W is publishing more of his little handbook series. Even though there are no hedgerows in my vicinity, I feel the need for this one. These are better than travel guides; they whisk you away into the English countryside.


John Wright has a blog at rivercottage.net; the latest entry contains some interesting thoughts on mushrooming.

False Morels? Hmmm. Rocket fuel indeed!! Up and away, I say.

Looking UP!

This is a good prompt for me, because as some of you know, I tend to look down or in, or anywhere else but up. Frankly, there is nowhere else to go BUT up at this point.

Thanks to my always-ready-for-a-challenge French blogging buddy, Betty C., I'm also taking this initiative. I shall be rummaging about for upswelling ideas and thoughts, photos, poems and the like for this next month. May Day is today, the prom is tonight (L, be careful, please . . .). May poles—make of them what you will, but the weaving and unweaving of the streamers is thrilling to some of us onlookers.

image thanks to Victorian Traditions