Buffalo Chicken Wraps and Stream of Consciousness

The cooking show that I haven't told you about yet.

You know how sometimes there's something that you are going to do, but it makes you really nervous and to avoid stressing unnecessarily you push it to the back of your mind so that you don't even think about it until it's actually happening?

That's the state of being that I have been in for the last month.  I believe it's called denial.

Oh, I knew that the day was going to come, because I promised and we scheduled and set the date and declared the theme of  "easy things to prepare for dinner at back-to-school time when your house is crazy and you don't have time to cook because you're trying to get into a routine but nobody's really adjusted to the after-school schedule" or something like that, because like I said I tried not to dwell on it.

And then Dan the Camera Man showed up at precisely the time that he was scheduled to be there and it. was. time. and since I hadn't really allowed myself to think about it I wasn't as nervous as I could have been and I wasn't at all stressed like I expected I would be.

Not even when he set up his big lights and big cameras in front of me and then we had to shut the air conditioning off because of the humming noise and it got really hot because my oven was set at 400 degrees and my face was all shiny and sweaty from the hot oven and bright lights and no air conditioning on a hot day.

This is all that I remember:  1. Dan pointing at one of the cameras, and in his lovely Irish brogue proclaiming, "this is your camera, Fran."

2. I was so grateful that Jack and Nick, two boys that have been on my baseball team for the past three years, were there to help me cook and provide someone for me to talk to.  I can not convey how grateful I am that these two fabulous 15-year-old boys chose to spend a couple of hours on a summer afternoon cooking with their baseball coach.  Had they not been there, I would have had to talk to Dan's aforementioned camera while I cooked and I would imagine that talking to an emotionless, inanimate object like a camera would have me mumbling and grumbling to myself (a la Kreacher the house elf from the Harry Potter movies).  Or maybe I would have just stared at the camera, frozen and unable to speak (like on that episode of The Brady Bunch when Cindy Brady is on the televised school quiz show and freezes when she sees the red flashing light on the camera).

3. It was hot, my face was very sweaty and I didn't care.

4. When it was over, I wanted everyone to eat all of the food we just made.

.

After all the cooking and filming was done, I took this picture of Dan the awesome camera man.

And here are Nick and Jack. Without them, I would have been a basket case.

What did we cook?  Well, the theme of "food that is easy to prepare when you're crunched for time at mealtime" meant lots of advance prep and then just putting the ingredients together.  The only thing that we actually cooked while taping the show was an apple tart that I will post later this week.  We also prepared

Pasta Salad and three types of chicken wraps: Caesar (click here to go to my recipe for Chicken Caesar Salad), Cranberry-Walnut and Buffalo-Style which I'll post in a moment.

When we taped the show, I used grilled chicken that I had made in advance, but store-made rotisserie chicken works just as well.

Banana Cake with Brown Butter Frosting

This summer sure is flying by, isn't it?

Caitie finished up her internship in NYC earlier this month.  Sean finished his internship as well.  Monday was Erin's last shift as a hospital volunteer.  Which reminds me that I never did post these pictures:

About a month ago, when I dropped her off for her shift, as we pulled around the drop-off area we noticed that the sidewalks were lined with people.  Dozens of people.  And each and every one of them was looking skyward, holding up their cell phone.........

Spiderman does windows!!  

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Today's recipe came about because I had a few overripe bananas, but I didn't want to go the usual banana bread route , or even make chocolate banana bread because I didn't want to put the oven on for the hour+ that it takes to bake it.

I figured that spreading the batter out in a jelly roll pan would shorten the baking time and then I thought frosting would be a nice touch and then it all disappeared so quickly that I had to make another batch!

Cranberry-Walnut Chicken Wraps and Baseball Really Does Make Everything Better

I refuse to get on my elliptical machine unless I have something good to watch while I torture myself  exercise.  It is just so gosh-darn boring any other way.

When I couldn't get my ipad to stream a video earlier this week, I went to plan B. Plan B is to read a book while riding my recumbent bike, since reading while standing on the elliptical--a stationary-yet-moving piece of equipment--requires more coordination than I possess.  I love, love, love to read so I was excited to have an excuse not to get on the elliptical (I usually force myself to use the elliptical instead of the bike because I get a much better--read SWEATY--workout).   Sitting and peddling on a bike while enjoying a good story is not such a great workout, but it is so much more enjoyable.

There was a minor problem, however.

This is the book that I have been reading lately.

And by lately, I mean approximately for the last month.  Or even longer, if you go back about 7 years to the last time I tried to read Life of Pi.  And now I digress.

I'm not a quitter.  I hate to start something and not finish it.  I can only remember giving up on one other book, ever.  It was around 25 years ago, Mr. Terrific bought me Stephen King's It, because It was over 1000 pages long.  I read books quickly, and if I'm reading a really good book I start wishing that the book were longer.  Mr. Terrific thought he was doing me a favor by buying me a really long book.

Except I didn't like the book.  After about 600 pages, I decided that I had read enough about children being terrorized by a clown.

Which is more than I can tell you about Life of Pi. The last time I attempted to read this book,  I read over 100 pages and I can not tell you what I read.  I gave up, even though it was on the best seller list, even though a friend of mine (whose opinion I totally respect and trust) told me it was a fabulous book.  I mean, 100 pages was a serious effort, right?  And for me to not even be able to remember what I read--I feel bad saying this--I felt like I was just wasting my time, and all because I was being stubborn and didn't want to quit.

But quit I did, I was happy to stop reading it and never gave it another thought...until the movie that was based on the book won a few Oscars at this year's academy awards.  I didn't see the movie, but I started thinking to myself, hmmmm...maybe I should give that book another go.

So about a month ago, I started reading Life of Pi AGAIN.  And since the only time of day that I can really find time to read is when I get into bed--and since I am on the verge of total exhaustion at that late hour--if there is nothing to spark my interest (read: if something is boring), I fall asleep really quickly.

I don't have a lot to show for the last month or so that I have been attempting to read this book.  Every night,  my eyes immediately just start rolling around inside of my head, anywhere from one word to a few paragraphs into it, which leaves me stuck on page 23.  That's right.  23 pages, in an entire month.  I would usually expect to read 3 or 4 books in a month.  But I'm stuck.  And I do mean stuck.

This is the page that I have been stuck on for the last week or so.  I get into bed, open the book to the page that I have dog-eared (don't judge me) to mark my place, and I ponder why pi=3.14159265 (I can't help it, my math-geekiness always expands it and yes I am jealous of everyone who has memorized more of these randomly-distributed digits than I have), visions of circles and their ratios of circumference to diameter cloud my thinking and then I realize that this tiny little equation is the only thing I have read in this book that I can relate to!!! 

 And then I close the book and turn out the light and lie there thinking that reading before bed is no fun.

Okay, back to the non-streaming ipad and working out on the bike instead of the elliptical...

So the last thing I want to read while working out is Life of Pi, especially when I could be reading something I enjoy.  I decided I would just go ahead and read something else while I exercised.

This is where Baseball Makes Everything Better comes in.

The Bird.  If you are a baseball fan, and you grew up in the '70's, surely you remember him?  I unabashedly admit that I really, really love the game of baseball and I always have...and I bought this book because even though I have always been a die-hard Red Sox fan there is no way that any baseball fan who ever saw Mark Fidrych pitch could not help but like him, and I certainly liked him.  He was so much fun to watch, and he played like he was having a blast: talking to himself, running around to congratulate his teammates, getting down on his hands and knees to smooth the dirt on the pitcher's mound.  

I bought this book a few months ago, and I gave it to Mr. Terrific because I thought he would enjoy reading it, but I am the one who is enjoying it.  I'm enjoying it so much that I have decided I will not ever waste one more second on any book that I'm not enjoying...and I'm probably going to have to remind myself to come back and read this blogpost if I ever get it in my head again that I really should give Life of Pi another try! 

Sea Salt Caramel Rice Krispy Treats

If you've been following my blog, you know that I usually like to warm you up with a few photos before I get to the recipe of the day.

 You can pretty much count on the photos falling into one of two categories.

1.  Whatever happens to be blooming in my yard. (a.k.a. Flowers That I Haven't Killed...Yet)

or

2. My dogs.  Here's Clyde on the 4th of July, visiting my parents in Connecticut.  

You may think that you've just viewed the warm-up pictures, but today I've got something even better. (And best of all, I am going to share some photos that were taken by others, people who have much better skills with a camera than I could ever hope to have!)

There's been a little bit of Hollywood action here in our little Boston suburb for the past couple of days.

My facebook newsfeed has been completely flooded with pictures that my friends have posted of Robert Downey, Jr.  By all accounts, he is a really down-to-Earth, humble guy who freely steps into the crowds to sign autographs.

The above picture was taken by my friend Kerry's cousin, Reilly.

Kerry was stuck at work and is insanely jealous that Reilly was so close to one of her all-time favorite actors.

  And I'm sure Kerry is also jealous that Robert Downey, Jr. was looking right at our friend, Cristina, when she took this picture.

Cristina's son, Jake, got an autograph.

The name of the film is "The Judge."  My friend, Tracey, captured this scene outside the courthouse.  Tracey's a true rock star with her camera.

Final shot:  Tracey's daughter, Lily, getting an autograph and a little face time with a movie star.

Thanks to all of my friends for letting me share their pictures!

Okay, before I give you the recipe, I need to tell you that it's one of a gazillion recipes that I've been pinning on Pinterest.  Actually, I didn't even pin this one, because when I pin something I never look at it again.

I went right to the recipe, printed it out, and made it.  Click HERE to go to Redbook Magazine's recipe for Salted Caramel Treats.  Go ahead.  You have to click on the link.  I'll wait.

Okay, now that you're back I will explain why you needed to click on the link.  I wanted you to see how beautiful and perfect the treat looks in that picture.  I know that I'm always telling you how terrible a photographer I am, but I need to inform you that no amount of mad photography skills could ever make the treats that I made look so perfect.  (And the fact that I scorched my caramel didn't help.)  Do you think they actually photoshopped all of the flaws right out of that treat? I mean, caramel is really gooey, right?  That picture is the smoothest, most ungooey-looking caramel I have ever seen.  Where am I going with this?  The point of all this rambling is that although my treats hardly resemble the flawless treat you see in that picture, it doesn't matter.  Flaws and all, these treats are out-of-this-world yummy!

Crab Cakes and Dill Sauce

It's no secret I'm a terrible photographer.  Just scroll through my blog and you'll find proof.

Yesterday, I thought I would work on my skills and attempt to photograph some of my deck plants.  This was the first (and only) photo I took:

When I was looking through the viewfinder, I was thinking to myself, "Wow, it's so sunny I can hardly see."

Yep, not only am I a terrible photographer, I'm a clueless one as well.

I snapped the photo, then pulled it up onto the screen to check it and thought, whaaat......turns out my lens was all fogged because it was so humid out.  Note to self: allow the camera a little bit of time to adjust to the temperature change on a hot and humid day after it's been sitting in an air-conditioned house.

Live and learn.

 Temps were about 10 degrees higher today, but there was less humidity so I was able to get the shots of my flowers before they die.

Because they ARE going to die.

Killing plants is another one of my specialties.

You'll notice that my containers are heavy on the moss rose (portulaca), which is sun-loving yet drought-tolerant.  My kind of container plant!

I've been cutting my dahlias to take into my house.  It seems that every bloom that I cut is quickly replaced by two more.  I cut all of these and took them into my house.

 I love how perfect they look when they are wide open!

I sat down to write this blog post and my shadow, Clyde, sat down next to me and then promptly fell asleep.

He is at an age where he is never willing to sit for me to photograph him.  So I grabbed a photo while he was sleeping.  And the whir of the camera woke him up,  Oops.

I'm sure if he could speak, he'd be saying, "Huh?  Why'd ya wake me?  It's only my 13th nap today."  And if he could speak, I am sure that his voice would sound exactly like Homer Simpson's.  That's the voice that I imagine in my head when I imagine him talking.  Sort of a dopey voice, because he's a dopey dog.

NOT that I hear voices in my head.  Only Clyde's voice.  The voice that I imagine he would have if he could speak.

I'll stop now.  And give you today's recipe, inspired by the fabulous crab meat that I bought from the seafood vendor at the farmers market.  Crab Cakes and a yummy dill sauce.

Fat-Free Pumpkin-Apple Dog Treats

I baked a batch of dog cookies yesterday.  

As soon as I took them out of the oven, Gus popped his head around the corner.  This is his I'm-in-a-cookie-trance face.

Clyde, as usual, positioned himself front and center.  Notice that he is directly in front of the refrigerator.  It's his favorite place to be when I'm cooking, because every time I open the fridge I have to nudge him out of the way.

He has a knack for figuring out how to get attention when I'm focused on something other than him.

I packaged up some of the cookies for a friend's dog, a golden retriever named Jessie, whose birthday is 

today.  Happy 14th Birthday, Jessie!

Selfie

Stream of Consciousness on a Wednesday Morning

A totally selfish post.  As if my thoughts and wishes would ever matter to anyone else but me!

 My favorite peonies, blooming on the side of my house by the driveway.  I see them every time I get in and out of my car.

They've been blooming for 3 days now.  I snap a picture every time I pass by.  

I snapped this picture this morning after I dropped my son off at the train station.  Then I decided to count the peony pictures in my phone.

There are 18 pictures of the same flowers!  I won't bore you with them all.

But it made me start thinking.  How cool it is that I can so easily snap pictures with my phone all day long.  How awesome it would have been to have had a camera phone when my kids were younger.  Which led to this thought: I wish I had started my blog 20 years earlier, so that I could have a really awesome photo journal of my kids as they grew up.

Instead of impulsively taking pictures of everything that catches my eye--like big fish in the supermarket--I could have a phone full of images of my kids.  If only there were camera phones back then.  If only I had a cell phone back then.  

~1997~

If only I was blogging back then.  If only I had internet access back then.  

~2009~

At ages 22, 19 and (almost) 18, there's no way my kids would let me blog about their current lives.  And there's no way they'd let me post pictures.

But if I had started this when they were younger, they would have been fair game.  

Rum Punch

Mother's Day was perfect.  Both Sean and Caitie had their finals during the week before.  Sean came home Friday night, Caitie arrived on Saturday, and that's all I needed for Mother's Day.

And then my baseball team surprised me after our game that afternoon.

It was a perfect day.

I've really enjoyed the past week, having everyone under the same roof is the best thing in the world.

Today, Caitie and Sean both began working their internships.  Exciting for both of them.

I don't think I've mentioned that Caitie's internship is in New York City?  Uh, yes.  She moved into her place yesterday.  Sigh.

It's been her dream for a while, to spend the summer in New York City, before she graduates college.  For the last few years, I have mixed feelings with every milestone, and this was no different.  So, so happy for her, so sad that she won't be here for the summer.  

And then the worries set in.  I couldn't turn them off.  Where will she live?  How will she get to work?  How will she find her way around?  Who will help her if she has any questions?  And my racing mind answered every one of those questions with it's a city that she's never been to and she doesn't know anyone there.  

First, we tackled the housing quandary.  Where to stay?  Thankfully, her school sent us a few links to places where past interns had stayed.  

Mr. Terrific went to the first site and told me, "Hey, I like this one.  An apartment building that only rents rooms to single women who are working, interning or studying in NYC.  Includes maid service and two meals a day."  He told me the name of the apartment and I googled it.

When the results popped up, the only thing I saw was HELL'S KITCHEN.  And I swear, it was bright red letters, font size about 50 point.  I kid you not.  It's all I could see.  

I need to add a disclaimer right now, I mean absolutely no disrespect or disdain toward anyone who lives in Hell's Kitchen.  But as a mom, looking for a place for her daughter to live, surely you can understand why I would not want my daughter living in a place called hell?   And though I imagine that hell is generally an extremely hot place, I can't help but think that the kitchen--a room with an oven--might be the hottest spot in hell?  It could be a misnomer, but I just couldn't get past it.

The next place on the list was in the Flatiron District. The word "flatiron" conjured up images in my mind of steaks and hairstyling tools, and with "Hell's Kitchen" still tattooed on my brain my racing thoughts quickly drew corollaries between steaks/kitchen and hairstyling/heat/hell, but it did not make me feel like I needed to breathe from a brown paper bag lest I pass out from anxiety.  After a quick google of "Flatiron District" I learned that the name comes from the Flatiron building and that the district was previously called the Toy District, and before that the Photo District.......all names I can live with.  

Whew.  Found a place for Caitie to live that's not hell!

Berries with Limoncello & Mint

My flowers are finally blooming!

I've been spending a lot of time outside, tidying up the flower beds.

Mr. Clyde likes to join me.  

Our typical scenario:  me, on my knees, pulling weeds.  Clyde, stretched out in front of me, so I have to reach over him to pull the weeds.  I get up and move to a different spot, he moves with me.

I try not to make eye contact with him, because as soon as I do he flips onto his back, wagging his tail, asking for a belly rub.  How can I resist this big, fluffy teddy-bear face?

I recently invited a bunch of friends over for a dinner party.  My menu?

Artichoke Dip

Caprese Skewers

Stuffed Mushrooms

Asparagus wrapped with prosciutto & mozzarella

I also made scalloped potatoes, and grilled filets mignon.   Actually, Mr. Terrific did the grilling.  Partly because he likes working the grill, but mostly because I think he's terrified that I'm going to overcook the meat.  He's really good at paying attention and making sure that the steaks are perfect.

And I made this rum punch, which I'm going to feature in a future blog post.  I promise!

For now, I'm going to give you the recipe for the berries that my friend, Danielle, brought to my party.  I thought they were just a lovely bowl of berries.......until I tried them.  

Me: "Wow, what else is in here?"

Danielle: "A little bit of lemon juice, mint, Limoncello........."

Me: "What?! Give me the recipe!!"

Here it is!!

Boston Strong

First things first: a great big THANK YOU to all who have emailed or messaged me because you haven't heard from me recently and were concerned because of all that has happened here in Boston in the past week.  I am so awed and amazed at how the power of the blogosphere has created so many friendships and a sense of camaraderie with people that I have never met.

We are fine.  We did not go to the marathon, and I'm thankful that all of my friends and family who were there--whether running or cheering--are fine. Physically fine.

Mentally, it's a heck of a lot to wrap your head around, to process, to understand, to accept.  How can anyone ever understand or accept such horror?  The victims of this crime, totally innocent, enjoying the beautiful day, happily waiting so they can enthusiastically cheer for and embrace their family members at the finish line.

I remember back to when I found out about the Newtown shooting at the Sandy Hill elementary school.  My daughters and I had spent the afternoon shopping, buying Christmas gifts, and then capped it all off with a trip to K-Mart to secretly pay off the layaway of an unsuspecting shopper.  We were sitting in our car, still in the K-Mart parking lot, waiting for the light to change so we could exit.  My girls were laughing, talking about what a big surprise someone was going to get when they went to pay for their layaway and they found out that we beat them to it.  The newscaster's voice came on the car radio and said, "Parents, if you have young children in the vicinity, you may want to turn your volume down because we have some disturbing news...." at which point one of my daughters said, "That means turn it UP!!"  Which was exactly what I was thinking, so I did turn it up ( at ages 17 and 21, I do not consider my girls young children).  Our joyful mood was instantly suffocated as we listened to the news report of the  Newtown shooting.    How could those sweet children and their loving parents have possibly known that their school was a dangerous place to be on that day?

Last Monday, could anyone have known that the finish line of the Boston Marathon was a dangerous place to be?  So often, you hear the phrase "they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."  How can attending school, or cheering at a sporting event, ever be wrong?  How can being at these places--at exactly the time you are supposed to be there--in broad daylight, be wrong?

I've mentioned my friend, Gayle, in previous posts.  Gayle is a nurse, and her sister (also a nurse) wrote this recounting of the first 24 hours after the marathon bombing (unedited by me):

     Let me tell you about the clear message my sister Gayle sent to the Terrorists. Monday when the bombs went off less than a mile from where she was working she stayed put to take care of her patients. When told by BPD that another bomb was found on Tremont street near the Hospital and that they were evacuating our Emergency room she helped to evacuate premature babies to safety not knowing or caring if she was in danger. She consoled and reassured frightened parents who are anxious enough having a baby in NICU let alone in the middle of all the terror of that day. And the next day....She went back in and did it again walking through security like you have never seen in your life. Armored tanks and Swat teams not letting what happened the day before stop her from going back to Boston and her job. I know because I was with her doing the same thing.. Not letting those animals keep us from doing what we do.


Anything can happen, at any time, any place.  Our only option is to not give in, support each other and carry on.