Winter Lentil Soup

This is a bowl of Winter Lentil Soup, courtesy of Real Simple.

I heard about this recipe from my friend Kelly. She made it a week ago and for some reason that totally escapes me, I wanted to try it. I have never had kale, I have never (to the best of my knowledge) had leeks and I am generally not very thrilled about lentils.
My Mom used to make Lentil soup when I was growing up. It was OK, but nothing to write home about.

I went to the store and tried to find kale. I had no idea where to begin, so I went to the Produce Manager. He looks at me and goes, "Gee, I never heard of that." ACK! I thought. Then he shows me that it was there on his cart and to take whatever I wanted. So I went forth with kale and totally forgot about leeks. The next store I was in was Walmart and they had a grocery section and I picked up the leeks there. They were HUGE things and I was worried that I would have leeks from now to the end of the world. It ended up that once you cut off the top thing, it is not so big a deal and I was actually 1 leek short for the recipe. That was just fine by me, by the way. I figured a little less the first time around was just right...and it was.
I forgot a can of tomatoes too, but thank goodness I always have puree and so I used that with some cherry tomatoes for fiber.

I added mushrooms because I had some and I put some already roasted and sliced (and frozen) pork loin into it to add a little meat and make it a full meal. That my friends, was really the best thing.

Otherwise, I totally followed the instructions on the recipe and in one hour I had delicious soup. The sweet potato added just that little bit of sweetness and it tended to make the soup thicken up a bit.
It is worth the effort to make, but I have a feeling escarole would be better as a green for me. Kale doesn't wilt much. Just saying...

Make it and you will probably not regret it. :-)

Fletcher Street Bridge - Los Angeles River

My Water Post For Today.

I have been enjoying the KCET Website which has been looking at the LA River these past weeks. I had to drive to work a week ago Friday and remembering what I had read on the website, made me stop, park and take a quick walk around the area.:-)

It is not a great neighborhood at times, so I was careful where I went, but the beauty of the water flowing in the concrete wash that passes through this area is beautiful and it drew me in. There was a pocket park right where I stopped and it had a sign saying that you park there at your own risk. Uh, yeah, I get it...

Enjoy the water of the LA River, as it flows under the Fletcher Street Bridge.

Jacqueline Kennedy Pearl Necklace

Before she died, my Godmother gave me a very special necklace. She said it belonged to her younger sister (who had passed on) and that she wanted me to have it. It is called a Jacqueline Kennedy Pearl Necklace and unfortunately for me, it is just a scant 16 inches in length. Not my necklace size at all.

When you look at it, it does indeed bring you back to the 60's and that style that is so much, Jackie. Wow!

It will look stunning on someone, but unfortunately, that someone is not me.

Here's hoping that it sells on Ebay. :-)

Happy Birthday To My Sister 2011

It has been a not so wonderful month for my sister and our family in general. Trust me, the phone bill will probably reflect this fact next month...but there is good news too.

In something that should bring a smile to her face: It's my sister's Birthday and she has a present on the way. Woo Hoo!

As I mentioned last year, in this post...She was my first birthday present, arriving 6 weeks after I turned one year old. I don't think I could live my life without her around to talk to and bounce ideas off of.



Happy Double Nickels to you sis, I love you.


==================
Photo 1
One of those
Christmas photos
from when we were
young.

Photo 2
Her present. A
really cute bear
from Starbucks.

The Adjustment Bureau

Another night at the movies...wow, are we taking advantage of this "Free movie screenings for members of The Editors Guild" perk. :-)

The Hubby and I went to see The Adjustment Bureau and I can say that I did like the movie a lot. I like SciFi and with Matt Damon as the lead, what's not to like. ;-)

I won't give away the plot, but I will say that it was kind of weird. Adding to that, I found some of the dialog a bit hard to hear. This was because the main character and the "angel" Adjustment Bureau guy were trying to communicate without the other members of the Bureau hearing. This meant that much of the nuance of the plot was lost on me. I read up on it when I got home, but I wish I heard more of it at the time of the movie. Oh well...

It was beautifully shot in New York, a city that I truly love. That was a great plus, to me. The acting was first rate and even the love scene was nice. :-)

As I mentioned to my work partner, definitely Netflix it, if you do not want to spend the money and time to go. It is an entertaining 2 hours of your life.

BTW: We got an invite to the next movie and we decided to skip it. It is a small budget movie called Battle LA.

Clouds On The Mountains

We got no rain over the weekend, but something tells me that some of the mountains might have gotten a sprinkle or two.

I woke up on Monday to these thin lines of clouds hovering over sections of the mountains. It was quite impressive to see and my thought is that the dirt was wet enough to form clouds when the sun came up and heated the land.

This is the view from my normal bus stop, looking down toward the Newhall Pass and the Los Angeles area. We have a dead end right across the street from where the bus shelter is and that is the street you are seeing here. The road dead ends because there is a river "wash" right next to it.

Ash Wednesday 2011

A little Ash Wednesday humor courtesy of the Catholic Cartoon Blog. :-)

It has come, much later then usual.

Ash Wednesday is finally here and personal life willing, I hope to get ashes at the 7AM service this morning.

I remember so vividly kneeling at the altar rail in St. Ignatius and being told to push my bangs to the sides, to give the priest a good shot at getting the ashes on my forehead. Against orders, of course, I would always leave the presence of the Priest and immediately move them back into position, to hide the fact that I had them. A big relief to me then and what is funny about the whole situation, is that I still feel that way, every single year.

Bad Catholic...

My Office View 2011

We were asked to send in photos of the view out the windows by our desks, for a contest.

I do not have a window, as I have mentioned before, but this is the view of Silverlake that I see from my desk. Please note that it looks better then the photo can capture.

I thank my boss every day for allowing me to see out her window.

It helps me a lot.







When you actually are in her office, this is the view of Downtown LA that we see.

Many days it is smoggy and we can hardly see anything, but this was a great day to take a photo. Downtown surrounded by lots of clouds.

I love all those palm trees on the hills surrounding the Downtown area, too.

Rocks On The Shore

My Water Post For Today.

We are back in Costa Rica for another (very different) look at the shore.
This photo was obviously taken during the day and in a more remote area. Lots of rocks around the edge of the shore, which means, I hope, that people don't swim here.

Personally, I love watching the water crash on the rocks.


I hope you enjoy it, too.

A One Of A Kind Bracelet

My sister and I were cherished nieces.

We ended up being the only grandchildren that my Dad's Mom had. She had 8 Children and just us 4.

Being my sister and I were the girls, our godmothers would give us all sorts of things. Dresses to wear and all sorts of jewelery. This one was the big one. Each year we would get a new charm to put on the bracelet that you see.
It is worth a small fortune and weighs a ton and basically, that is the problem. Every time I have worn it, more of the charms break.

If you look close you see the cat only has one eye. The ballernia lost an arm and a pearl on her dress. Even the piano has some bent legs. The final insult, my birth date had a garnet on it and now is also lost in time.
I have had it in a safe deposit box for decades.

A few weeks ago I made a decision and took it out of the vault. I talked to my sister and we discussed. Was I heartless to cash it in for what it is worth, or is it time to say goodbye to something that means so much to me and use the money for a vacation or something?

I think my decision is made.

I loved my aunt and I love that she cared enough about me, to make something beautiful. I will truly NEVER forget it, but it is time to move on.

Communication Woes

Things are still very unsettled here at work. The latest problem is what is known as "communicating within the system". Most people were dropped to a small amount of conferences that they can view, but most didn't use the tool much and of course, they don't do the job I do.
When suddenly I lost just about everything that means anything to me, it was time to act. My job is basically identical to what I did before, so timely information is critical. Feed missed or uplink having trouble on our end...we need to communicate that issue.
It took a few days, but I am finally back in communication with people.

Big sigh of relief, from me!

I guess it was just another glitch on the road to independence.

Since it is a new month, here is a little update...

February did better then January, in viewership. Since I spend each weekday morning in a meeting to address this very thing, I send out a heartfelt Yay!

Movie Night: Cedar Rapids

The Angel Family (at least my husband and I) have been lucky to catch many movies this fall and winter at the DGA theater on the edge of the Sunset Strip.

It is a fabulous theater and we truly enjoy seeing a movie in a place made for those picky film people...The Directors. :-)

Our latest trek to see a movie was about 2 weeks ago. It was one I had hardly heard anything about: Cedar Rapids.

Here's a blurb about it.

"Tim Lippe has no idea what he's in for when he's sent to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to represent his company at an annual insurance convention, where he soon finds himself under the "guidance" of three convention veterans."

I went, only because Ken Levine mentioned that he really loved the movie. I figured that if a man who wrote episodes of M*A*S*H, Cheers and Fraser loved it, it must be worth going out of our way to see it.

He was right and both my Husband and I loved it. It wasn't The King's Speech, but it was an enjoyable 90 minutes.

Highly recommended.

Jewish Soul - The Heart And Soul Of Jewish Music

My boss has a friend...

She was born and raised in Los Angeles and being we work in "Show Business", things come our way. This CD was given to her for some reason a few weeks ago and she showed it to me. One name caught my eye right off the bat...Jay and the Americans.

One of the obscure Steely Dan facts that fans know about, is that Donald and Walter started their career as back up to the touring Jay and the Americans band in 1971, just before they got their big break and formed Steely Dan....but I digress.

Raised in the Los Angeles Fairfax District, it was a lifelong dream of Simon Rutberg, to compile a collection of songs that he enjoyed. It took years to purchase the rights to the many songs that spoke to him and spoke to his Jewish heritage.

Here are the Artists and songs that are found on Jewish Soul.

Tracks:

1. Tzena Tzena (Connie Francis)
2. Oh My Papa (Eddie Fisher)
3. Eli, Eli (Johnny Mathis)
4. My Yiddishe Mamme (Tom Jones)
5. The Anniversary Song (Jackie Wilson)
6. Rumania, Rumania (Eartha Kitt)
7. Where Is The Village ( Jay & The Americans )
8. Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen (Natania Davrath)
9. Mamele (Yaffa Yarkoni)
10. Dance Everyone Dance (Betty Madigan)
11. Kol Nidre (Jan Peerce)
12. Where Can I Go? (Johnny Mathis)
13. Exodus (Andy Williams)


As mentioned in the article, if interested in hearing this CD, you can purchase it from THIS website.

St. Lucia Bread

It's a long story...

I have a Steely Dan Internet friend who lives in Sweden and around the Christmas season he posted a photo of his niece's cat looking out his window, with wide dark eyes. So in Swedish he posted Lussekatt?
I had no idea what that meant and though he tried to explain that it made little sense in Swedish and none in English, I put the word into Google and found out that the word stood for St. Lucia Bread, which are traditionally shaped like eyes. Thus, the photo meant that the cat had Lucy's Eyes. Ah, I said to myself! I think I have it!


While on my mission, I found a really interesting recipe for Lussekatter and they looked so good that rather then wait for next December 13th, I baked them last Saturday.

I expected them to be sweet, but compared to American desserts, they are not but they have grown on me and I like them a lot.

A quick baking note. I don't know why this is, but I didn't need anywhere near 6 1/2 cups of flour. 4 was plenty.


Here is the recipe, courtesy of About.com

St Lucia Buns (Lussekatter)

St. Lucia buns may be made ahead of time, frozen, and quickly reheated in the microwave before serving.
Prep Time: 2 hours
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
Ingredients:

* 1 cup melted butter
* 1/2 tsp. saffron threads, finely crumbled (or 1 tsp. powdered saffron)
* 1 cup milk
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1 tsp. salt
* 2 pkg. dry active yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
* 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 eggs, well-beaten, plus one egg white
* raisins or currants to decorate

Preparation:

Crumble saffron threads into melted butter. Let sit 30 minutes to an hour (this intensifies the saffron flavor).

Heat milk to a light boil, turning off heat when it reaches the scalding point (with small bubbles across the top). Stir in melted butter, sugar, and salt. Pour mixture into mixing bowl and allow to cool until “finger-warm” (still quite warm, but just cool enough to touch). Stir in yeast and let sit for 10 minutes.

Mix 3 1/2 cups flour into liquid. Stir in two well-beaten eggs. Add enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough (just until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. You don't want to add too much flour).

Transfer dough to a large greased bowl and turn to coat all sides. Cover with a clean towel and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch down risen dough. Lightly knead two or three times on a floured surface. Pinch off small handfuls of dough (about the size of a racquetball) and roll into "snakes." Shape snakes into "S"-shaped buns or other desired shapes (please see my photo gallery of Lucia buns for traditional examples). Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover with the towel again, and allow to rise until doubled (about an hour).

Decorate buns with raisins, brush with egg white, and bake in preheated 375º oven about 15 minutes, just until brown. Yield: 20 St. Lucia Buns ("Lussekatter")

The Social Network

I have wanted to watch this film for the past 6 months or so. Finally, yesterday, I rented it from the local Blockbuster and watched it.

If you haven't seen it, I just want to say how incredible it is. The acting is right on, perfectly capturing the spirit of the time and the creation of Facebook.

I really feel it should have won Best Picture at the Oscars the other night and I know I was not alone in my feelings on that.

Totally true to the book, though Mark Zukerberg may disagree with how accurate it is. lol

Do yourself a favor, get it.