Cooking again

With my shoulder pain most intense when I am cooking, typing or washing the dishes, we have been getting by with very little cooking this past week. Finally I felt rested enough and well enough to get back to the kitchen. Dennis had bought my favorite, fresh broccoli, so I set to making my ole' standby broccoli dish, a recipe developed by my mom:

After rinsing the broccoli I set it for proper steaming on the stove. Here is the most crucial part, you don't want to over cook the broccoli or let it boil rather than steam. I also salt my broccoli to taste.

I use a saute pan with olive oil and chopped onion, cooking slowly over low heat.

Garlic, glorious garlic!

Peel the cloves

Mince them up.

Add the garlic to the already cooking onions. Watch that the garlic doesn't burn.

The broccoli should become a lovely bright green when it's ready. Turn off the heat. I adore that little stainless steel steamer. It fits in any pan and keeps your veggies out of the water.

According to Bernard, pasta needs "many waters" to cook right, along with a splash of sea salt.

You can really use any pasta style you prefer.

Once the garlic and onions are cooked well, I remove from the heat and allow to cool. Once cool enough, I transfer the broccoli to the saute pan and turn the heat up low to warm everything up while the pasta cooks. I will sometimes add more olive oil at this point.

This is wonderful if you add fresh grated Parmesan. Sadly we were all out. Still, it is a yummy and easy lunch!

Paris-Day 2

I've been traveling quite a bit lately and because of that it isn't uncommon for me to wake up and have no idea where I am. So day 2 of Paris I did just that.  Blinked a few times, waited for my head to clear from the muddled dreams and as the fog cleared I heard traffic far away and the hammering sounds of construction.  I looked around the room and remembered....I am in Paris.  

Opening the window and stepping out into the brisk December morning, I drank in the sights and sounds, including the construction on the other side of our street where the Military Academy was. 

What to do with our brief, golden hours of daylight.  We head out to coffee.  Since we have been living in France long enough to understand the way things work, it wasn't difficult for us to find a cafe and order coffee and croissants. Paris isn't necessarily more expensive then any other city, its just as expensive. We drank our coffee and looked over our city maps while waiting for the croissants to come out of the oven. Well, we ran out of coffee before the oven could finish so, naturally, we needed more coffee.  Our bill for breakfast was as follows:

4 coffees

+

4 croissants

=

25 euros

or

$32.34

Needless to say, I wanted to dive out the window while Dennis was down in the bathroom.  Somehow, spending $32 on pastry and coffee seemed extravagant. Delightful but extravagant. 

After our breakfast debacle we walked toward Madame Eiffel to see how bad the crowds were at the tower elevators. And they were bad.  The tour buses parked on the side streets were a good indication. So we continued to the river where we discovered the boat shuttle that would bring you past 7 major sights and allow you to board and disembark all along the river, all day long. That was for tomorrow.

We continued across the river toward The Arc de Triomphe were we watched in fascination as eleven streets emptied out into the round about without direction or order. Complete chaos. I couldn't take my eyes away from the hornets nest of cars and buses, motorbikes and trucks swirling and vying for position around this massive monument that Napoleon commissioned in 1806 to pay tribute to his victories in battle. The foundation alone took 2 years to complete.  Sadly, the structure wasn't completed until 1836...not in time for the Emperor to see it for himself. However his remains were brought through the Arc before they were laid to rest in Invalides. You reach the Arc by passing through a tunnel under the crazy street above.  Walking around and through this beautiful 164 foot historical piece makes you feel tiny and brief.  For a fee, you can also walk up to the top and bask in the view.  It marks the beginning of the Champs-Elysees "the most beautiful street in the world".

Friday I'm in LOVE!

High Five For Friday! This week has been crazy for us. My mother-in-law has been in the hospital all week. Nothing too serious but severe dehydration and at her age (95!) it had to be treated by professionals. So between twice a day hospital visits, running our two online businesses from home, crocheting my crazy animals, writing my book, blogging and trying to exercise every day (plus the usual cooking and cleaning and walking the dog)...I am welcoming the weekend with open arms. Here is my list:

Five things I love!

1.  The way my puppy Anna does a huge stretch every time I ask her "Do you want to go for a walk?" She is so cute and the BEST exercise buddy!

2.  I love this little Fiat 500 and every time we see one I make my husband snap a picture of me next to it, acting like it's mine.

3. This little guy I just finished! He is a gift for my dear friend back home. The pattern is from www.planetjune.com and she has the best crochet patterns for adorable animals. Check her out!

4. The flowers are blooming here and summer is on it's way! I love that!!

5. And with summer coming....I will soon be eating this again! My all time favorite food combination.

Happy Friday everyone!

Almost time to pack for Florida!

"I'm leaving on a Jet plane"

It's that time again for us. We have been staying here in France caring for my mother-in-law since the  beginning of January and come April 2nd we will be flying home for a long visit. In fact, for quite a while. The other siblings in the family, my husband's brother and two sisters, will be coming to take turns looking after their mother and visiting with her. So Dennis and I will be returning to his family in Florida for the month of April, May and a little bit of June! I already have plans to fly up to RI to see my family as well. I am really excited to be home again with everyone. I can't wait to drive our car again! It sounds small but believe me, once you are cut off from being independent you really enjoy the simplicity of getting in your car and just going.

I do worry about Miss Anna when we leave. Sadly, she cannot come home with us because there is no where for her to stay in FL. My step-son-in-law (that is probably not the proper way to write that) is very allergic so Mistress Anna must stay behind, soaking up the sun here in the South of France and keeping Denise and her visitors company. I wonder what Anna's journal entries will be like during the time we are gone?

                                                                                                                              April 2

Well...they left for the airport today. They seemed sad to leave me but I think they did it on purpose. All this talk about allergies and difficulty with my travel papers. It all sounds suspicious to me! Well, at least I can con everyone here to give me tons of treats and overfeed me while Sarah is gone! I'll be living the high life here in France while they sweat it out in Fl :) Hahahahahaha

At least that is what her eyes say when I pull my suitcase down and start selecting things to take with me. Anna sits in the hallway outside our room, head on her paws, with this look of absolute abandonment mixed with a "how could you?" look of betrayal. Its gonna be so hard leaving her!

In flux

I am trying to decide whether I should switch to a different blog setup. I want to get the most readers and followers I can and I wonder if a change would facilitate that. Since I know just about nothing about blogging and getting my blog visited, I'm really writing blind here. Any and all suggestions that you dear readers would like to make, I accept gratefully. And here is a link to a practice switch that I am thinking about.  http://mindofahummingbird.tumblr.com/  Please visit it and let me know what you think.

Should I stay or should I go?

Car accidents that haunt you years later...

In 2008 I was driving along with my sunroof open and my windows rolled down, soaking in the late afternoon sun on a hot July Friday. Traveling at about 40 mph, moving with traffic, I saw a white flash out of the corner of my right eye and then BAM!  I was hit by a box truck that was exiting the freeway without stopping or yielding to the flow of traffic. The truck hit my little red Subaru on the A-pillar of the right side and smashed the car in all the way to the gas cap. My car was shoved across the busy street where I came to a dead stop. Miraculously, no other cars hit me. Thankfully my window was down so my head and upper body swung outside the car and then back in. Although I was sore and my kidneys were bruised, I did not sustain any immediate and more serious injuries.

Except that today, while visiting my French Homeopathic doctor for another treatment of my neck/arm and shoulder pain on the left side, he asked me if I had ever been in a car accident.  Um...yeah, why?

Well, this pain that I have been living with now for over 4 weeks may be due to that same car accident years ago. The tingling down my arm, the stiffness in my neck and the occasional left-side headaches that I suffer with are all long term injuries from that guy not obeying the traffic law, striking my car at 50 mph. It is a real possibility that I may have developed arthritis in my neck causing all of this pain, a condition that will only deteriorate as I...  wait for it.....AGE!

Arthritis....at 34.   So discouraging!

The next car I buy will have to have side-impact airbags!

Happy Anniversary!

Today marks the 3rd wedding anniversary of my step-daughter Denise and her husband David.

Dennis and I are not able to join in celebrating this happy day in person because thousands of miles separate us but our thoughts are with Denise and David and we wish them a happy happy day full of love and good memories and a lifetime more of happy anniversaries!!!