Retirement
It's easy to shine when you're surrounded by stars...
And that, boys and girls, sums up my almost 17 years at Trader Joe's. They made it easy. Until the last day.
Thursday, before opening, we were listening to showtunes when One Day More from Les Miserables came on. Someone cranked it up and I was belting it out, channeling my inner Ethel Merman. And then it hit me that I should be taping it, so got the last 50 or so seconds of it on tape...
Right after we opened, my coworkers did a conga line around the store with cutout pictures of me as their heads. I knew at that point I was in serious trouble. I want a picture of that, please... But all and all, it was a more or less a regular day, for me... I was still being bossy and telling people what to do. Just because I'm not going to be there doesn't mean I don't have an opinion of what they should be doing and what should be happening...
They humored me.
And then it was Friday.
I've had jobs that I have danced out, slid out, and stormed out. Never have I had tears streaming down my face. But tears were there - OMG were there tears...
I've spent the better part of the past 17 years embarrassing my coworkers, and they spent the better part of the last month paying me back. There has been a picture of me with a guest book for customers to sign for several weeks with a countdown clock on it. I knew that the last day was going to be excruciating, but, one does what one has to do. I didn't expect it to be so much fun - and so emotional.
The day started out fairly normally. Ryan filled out the Daily Log - our job assignments for our shift - and had me listed as "Anything You Want To Do" for the entire day - not exactly how it was normally written for me, but, what the heck. I knew I had to keep busy even if I wasn't being officially scheduled, so I headed back to the Demo Station.
A dozen bees were hanging from the ceiling and this was on the wall. Okay. I can handle it. But it's also a reminder to never be friends on Facebook with your coworkers. They have access to photographs... Diane was scheduled to work over there but I knew she had a million and one evil things up her sleeves, so I started the coffee, set out the morning treat, and went about things like it was just any other day. I figured I needed to be nice to the woman who was going to be humiliating me later...
The first crack in my defenses came during our Morning Huddle - the time we go over what's happening, share information, eat... Mostly eat... We went through the morning notes and everyone was laughing and congratulating me, when they asked me if I had any final words. The voice cracked and the tears started. So much for my macho cover... Fran got me a box of tissues and marked my name on it - in really big letters.
As blustery and boisterous as I can be, I really, really hate being the center of attention. I've never liked it and I doubt I even will. That, of course, didn't stop anyone...
The morning was running relatively smoothly. I had originally been told that the festivities would begin about 2pm. I was told it was now 11am. A quick text to Victor, because he, Phoebe, and Nancy were going to come up and witness...
It's 11am and the four of us are being shuttled around the store - making sure I couldn't see what was going on. Diane and Sandy called me over to the Demo Station - and it began.
Jen brought over a Depends Retirement Cake she had made.
I then received my retirement apron that Barb handmade. Awesome, or what?!?
I was then given a requisite floppy retirement hat and told to sit in the rocker - with a blanket over my knees. And so it began...
It was a live version of This Is Your Life. Evidently, I have shared a lot of my youth - and youthful indiscretions - with my coworkers over the years. Who knew they were paying attention?!?
Inwardly, I want to crawl into a hole. Outwardly I took turns laughing and trying to dry my eyes. Diane did a fantastic job playing hostess with the mostess and she had me in tears - literally. It really was fun, in a masochistic sort of way.
And then it was schmooze time with customers reminiscing about this and that, kids who I remember as toddlers now off to college, marriages and divorces, cooking tips and cooking philosophies... The same stuff I've been talking about for years - but a lot more political in my waning moments...
And then I escaped to the back room where the food was being set up. It was Pot Luck Heaven with a score of dishes created by the creative crew! The cake that Garvey made was out of this world and it's the only picture of food that I actually got. if any of y'all did, send them to me!
Awesome. Totally awesome.
- Maria made Spanakopita
- Liz made Ceviche de Cameron
- Mariah made Mushroom and Leek Bread Pudding
- Susan made Pineapple Cake
- Lauren made Veggie Stromboli
- Barb made Eggplant Parmesan Non-Meatballs
- Elizabeth made Romesco Sauce
- Jeff brought Pizza
- Ryan made Eggrolls in a Bowl
- Garvey made that cake
I will eventually have all of these recipes online.
Back out into the store...
Sandy made a playlist of music and it was just blasting away... She nailed me with her choices. We were up in the front of the store singing I left My heart in San Francisco, and both of us were crying! Customers were applauding our efforts!
It's now a bit after one and I am emotionally drained - I'm ready to go home. I'm scheduled until 3:30pm, but the Log does say "Anything I want." I figure that means go home. As I start to make my choice known, Sandy tells me I can't leave until 1:30. No explanation, just that I can't leave until at least 1:30. I have worked with Sandy for almost 16 years. if she says I'm staying - I'm staying.
At 1:30, I found out why I couldn't leave... It seems my in-laws planned a little surprise of their own - except they hadn't told Victor - or anyone at the store. Victor had sent a picture to his sister when he got home earlier, and immediately received a panic phone call telling him what was happening! He then called the store, spoke with Sandy, who then, flat-out told me I wasn't leaving.
Over The Top.
At this point, it really was time for me to get the hell out of Dodge. I was your basic mess. I had so many gifts and cards I needed a shopping cart to get them all out.
It's difficult to explain just how much fun I've had over the years, and the awesome people I have had the pleasure of working with.
I have met so many fun people - the customers completely filled my Retirement Book. The comments are heartwarming and humbling. Who knew that simple acts of kindness, a smile, or a snarky-fun comment would really have an impact on someone's day?
The company has changed a lot from the 110 stores they had when I started to the almost 500 today. But what hasn't changed is the love and caring of the people who work at store #632.
We still live 2 miles from the store and we'll still be shopping there. The only thing that's going away is my employee discount.
And having to get up in the morning.
Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
The latest issue of Fine Cooking Magazine has nine different salad dressings that all look pretty good. We make all our own dressings - of course we do - and most of the time lean towards variations on oil and vinegar. When there's a half-dozen different oils and even more different vinegars - along with a yard full of fresh herbs - it's easy to make something different every night.
But man does not live by oil and vinegar, alone. Every now and again, something different this way comes. The Sweet and Spicy French Dressing I made last week is a prime example. It came from the same issue of the magazine and whetted the appetite for some newer salad flavors. And that's where tonight's Buttermilk Ranch Dressing comes into play.
I followed the online recipe fairly close - but just threw everything into a blender. It was so much easier than grating onion.
Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup crème fraîche
- 2 tsp. minced onion
- 1-1/2 tsp. lemon juice
- 1-1/2 tsp. chopped Italian parsley
- 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- S&P, as desired
Place everything into a blender and process until smooth.
The dressing was the perfect compliment to the salad - iceberg lettuce, hard cooked egg, blackberries, blueberries, rainier cherries, julienned yellow and green zucchini, and slices of turkey breast I cooked earlier on the grill outside.
Fairly yumlicious.
Starting next week - my first week of retirement - we plan on doing a bit of tightening up the eating habits a bit. My goal is to start cooking smaller portions all the way through. It's been working with the desserts, now it's time to get serious about the rest of the things we eat.
I'm not going to be looking at ingredients, calories, or anything else. Focusing on a single ingredient is never a smart move. Instead, I'm just going to be making less - which, for me, is not necessarily going to be easy. I've always been a quantity cook with a generous appetite, but I'm now going to have the time to focus on doing things right instead of expediently.
I'm looking froward to new culinary adventures!
Vanilla Cake for Two
Since I made a Chocolate Cake for Two a couple of weeks ago, I thought it time to make a Vanilla Cake for Two.
I love cake. hell - I love desserts, period. This is where I really take after my mother. You'll note in the cook books she put together over the years that the dessert binder was twice the size of the Appetizers/Salads/Entrees/Soups/and Sides. The woman liked her desserts - and still stayed slim all of her life. That, is where I don't take after my mother. Oh, well.
Since I had lots of fresh Strawberry Jam, I spread it between the layers.
Vanilla Cake for Two
- 6 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup flour
- pinch salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- scant half-cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 6" cake pan.
Cream butter in mixer. Add sugar and cream together for about 5 minutes. Add egg and mix about 30 seconds.
Mix vanilla with buttermilk. Mix flour with salt and baking soda. Add the flour and liquid alternately, starting and finishing with the flour. Just mix well enough to get everything together.
Spread into prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes.
I made a basic cream cheese frosting - equal parts of butter and cream cheese, plus vanilla and powdered sugar. I split the layer and added some homemade strawberry jam.
Momma would be proud!
Pork Chops and Peaches
'Tis the season... Stone fruits - peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots - they're all starting to hit the stores. And I am psyched! I am a huge summer fruit fan. I know that most of this stuff - especially berries - are now available year-round, but I just don't like buying stuff out of season from halfway around the world. I'm a fan of buying in season - and buying frozen when it's not.
Frozen fruit gets a really bad rep, but... in these days of industrial farming and produce being grown for it's shipping characteristics, frozen is actually a good choice. Unlike it's non-local counterparts, it's picked at the height of ripeness and flash frozen. And they're less expensive in January than their southern hemisphere cousins.
But when the local produce starts coming into season... I'm ready!
Local peaches aren't quite ready, yet, but some really good ones are coming up just south of us. And the July issue of Cooking Light had a great idea for making a Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon Peach Sauce.
Their recipe was a bit more involved than my rendition.
Pork Chops with Bourbon Peach Sauce
- pork chops
- 2 cups sliced peaches
- 1 tbsp aronia berry vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
- 2 tbsp bourbon
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp butter
Saute pork chops in skillet until cooked through. Remove and set aside to keep warm.
Add peaches to skillet and cook until lightly cooked through. Add bourbon, vinegar, and maple syrup. Continue cooking until liquid is mostly evaporated.
Swirl in a tablespoon of butter.
Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.
We had this with baked sweet potatoes - with bacon on top, just because - and steamed broccoli. Fun and flavorful - and easy enough for a weeknight meal.
Weeknight meal... by this time next week, every day is Saturday - and every night is Saturday Night.
Retirement is going to be so much fun!
Strawberry Jam
I brought home a 4-pound package of strawberries. Four pounds. Like Victor and I could possibly eat four pounds of strawberries before they turned to mold. It was one of those I know I shouldn't do this but they look too good to pass up moments.
It wasn't exactly a rare occurrence - I'm often an impulse-food-shopper. It's what makes me creative in the kitchen because once it's purchased, it has to be used. There's no such thing as throwing food away in our house.
I think that strawberry jam started weaving its way into my psyche before I made it home because when I did get home, it was the first thing I decided to make.
Jams are really not difficult to make and since they're canned in a water-bath and not pressure canned, anyone can do it at home with pots already in the house.
They're also really easy to play with and make your own.
A fairly basic ratio is merely equal weights of sugar and fruit, along with some lemon juice and pectin, depending upon the type of fruit you're using. The recipe on the back of the pectin box will give you excellent results.
But you can play... I switched out half of my lemon juice for balsamic vinegar. Not enough to really change the flavor - but enough to go hmmmmm...
Peach brandy added to peach jam, prosecco added to grape jelly... It's yours. You get to play - or keep it simple.
Strawberry Jam
- 3 lbs crushed strawberries
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp good balsamic vinegar
- 1 pkg Pectin
- 3 1/2 lbs granulated sugar
Prepare your jars - I used 6 pint jars.
Crush strawberries with a potato masher. Do not use a food processor as it breaks down the natural pectin.
Place in a heavy pot and stir in the pectin, lemon juice, and balsamic. Bring to a rolling boil.
Add sugar all at once, stir to dissolve, and bring back to a rolling boil - stirring often. Boil hard for one minute - keep stirring!
Fill your hot, prepared jars and process in a water bath for about 15 minutes.
And if you're a bit unsure about canning... here's a great sheet from the University of Georgia giving you the basics.
Have fun - and buy those berries!
Chicken Salads
When I cooked the chicken yesterday, I knew that some of it was going to become salads, today. I don't often plan meals in advance, but cooking a whole chicken is a lot of chicken - and we all know how much I hate to waste things... Besides. A good Chicken Salad has been calling my name for a while.
The salad covered the basics. Romaine lettuce - a whole head, not hearts coming out of a plastic bag - thinly-sliced radishes, tomatoes, hard cooked eggs, blackberries, chicken, green onions, and lots of crispy bacon, and the Sweet and Spicy French Dressing I made a couple of weeks ago.
The tomatoes were grocery store tomatoes - not all that great - but, sadly, ours won't be ready for some time, yet. Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I really dislike produce in packages - especially plastic bags - but every now and again I buy it because that's what's available. Of course, in nine days I'm going to have the opportunity to produce shop at places other than our local grocery stores. Gentile's will definitely have a weekly visit - as will Reading Terminal Market. The SEPTA Senior Fare is only a buck into the city and it drops me off right at the market. There's no excuse not to.
Grape Clafoutis
I was looking for a quick dessert and just happened to have some grapes in the 'fridge. Next thing I knew, there was a clafoutis in the oven!
Clafoutis is a French dessert that is traditionally made with cherries with the pits - along with milk that has been steeped in ground almonds.
I have made the traditional, but I have also made numerous variations on the theme. It's one of those recipes that you can do anything to!
Green Grape Clafoutis
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp creme de casis
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 375°.
Butter 10″ pie plate and sprinkle with demerara sugar.
Arrange grapes in bottom of pie plate.
Beat eggs and sugar until frothy. Add flour, salt, creme de casis, and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add milk and mix until smooth.
Carefully pour batter over grapes and bake about 35 minutes or until knife in center comes out clean.
I've made them with peaches, apricots, cherries, bananas and raspberries... go for it and have fun!
Fregola
Close to 8 years ago, I bought a bag of fregola, cooked it up, wrote about it, and promptly forgot about it. Evidently, it didn't make an impression on me.
A few days ago, I was reading an article about Sardinia and it mentioned fregola. Intrigued, I decided to buy some - having completely forgotten about buying it once upon a time...
Looking at the package started a niggling feeling that I had seen this stuff before - but it eluded me until I did a search on the website and found the post! There are 13 years worth of meals on this site - not counting the cookbooks - and the search function is great at jogging my memory.
The last time I made it, it was a pretty heavy dish, from what I remember - and it was in August. I guess that may be the reason I let it fade away. While the weather, today, might as well be August for the heat and humidity, the dish, itself, was much lighter.
My original plan was to just cook it up with asparagus and lemon. Really simple.And then things changed - as they are wont to do around here...
Earlier today I roasted a chicken on the grill using a vertical roaster. I'm planning salads for dinner tomorrow night and wanted some cold cooked chicken. It was a big bird. I have enough chicken for half a dozen meals.
My asparagus and lemon became clean-out-the-refrigerator - one of my favorite meals!
I had 4 ounces of paper-thin sliced pancetta that came out of the freezer. 6 or 8 tiny sweet peppers, a couple of green onions, assorted mushrooms...
Time to play!
Fregola
- 4 oz thin-sliced pancetta
- 4 oz assorted sweet peppers
- 3 large scallions
- 8 oz assorted mushrooms
- 1 bunch asparagus
- 6 oz cooked chicken
- 6 oz fregola
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 oz Moliterno pecorino
- S&P
Dice pancetta. Fry in skillet until crisp. Remove and set aside.
Start cooking fregola - the dish will be done when it is cooked!
In same pan, add peppers, scallions, mushrooms, and asparagus. Saute until about half-done.
Add white wine and bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cook until vegetables are almost done. Stir in chicken and heat through.
Stir in butter, and then cheese.
Stir in cooked, drained fregola. Simmer 2 minutes.
Stir in reserved pancetta.
Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, desired.
This was much better this time around than it was last.
I bought a kilo, so there shall be a few more meals - and this time, I think I will remember them a bit better!
Lighter is better...
Hamburger Buns
It's an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day, out there - a perfect day for firing up the grill and cooking some burgers. That, of course, means making hamburger buns! I know that any normal person would run down to the store and pick up a pack. And we all know that the last thing I am is normal.
I go back-and-forth on buns. I love a burger served on crusty sourdough like the ones they used to have at Original Joe's on Taylor Street in San Francisco. I haven't been to the newer incarnations, but the crusty, crunchy, chewy - and totally greasy and messy - burger was one that dreams are made of.
And... I love a burger on a soft, gooey, bun that barely contains all of the greasy goodness packed between the top and bottom layers.
One of the best indications of how good a burger was is how many napkins did it take for me to get through it? The more napkins, the better the burger. Barely able to take a bite, with grease and goo running down the arms - unable to put it down because it will completely fall apart when I try to pick it back up... The Perfect Burger!
In making these, today, I decided to aim for something in between the two extremes - a soft bun with a bit more structure than those found at the grocery store.
I took the recipe I used a couple of weeks ago and reworked it to make 4 buns, pulled out the egg, added milk powder and whole milk.
Hamburger Buns
- 1 packet yeast
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tbsp nonfat milk powder
- 2 tbsp butter, softened
- 1 tsp salt
Proof yeast in warm milk and sugar.
Add flour, milk powder, and salt to liquid and mix on low speed until all flour is incorporated. Add softened butter and continue mixing for 7 or 8 minutes. Dough will be soft and not pull away from bottom of bowl, but it shouldn’t be overly sticky.
Form into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover, and allow to rise until doubled.
Punch down dough and form into 4 balls. Place on a floured sheet pan and flatten. Cover with a towel and allow to rise, again, until doubled.
Brush with egg mixed with a bit of water and sprinkle with sesame seeds, if desired.
Place in a preheated 375°F oven for about 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and cover pan with a clean dishtowel to steam buns as they cool to help soften.
And... since every good burger needs a good side dish, I made a South of the Wall-Style Corn Salad.
As an aside... I find it interesting that, as a nation, we embrace Mexican food with a score of national chain restaurants, we embrace Mexican culture, we embrace Mexican tequila, Mexican beer, Mexican agave nectar... Avocados, tortilla chips, tomatillos, chili peppers and salsas of every sort... We flock to Mexican resorts like Cancun, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco... but we don't seem to like Mexicans and want to build a wall to keep them out. In the words of Mr Spock, it's totally illogical. And very very sad.
South of the Wall Corn Salad
- 4 ears of corn, cooked, cooled and corn cut from the cobs
- 1 pkg mini cherry tomatoes
- 8 mini sweet peppers
- 1 can diced green chilis
- 1 bunch green onions, chopped
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup enchilada sauce
- salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.
The salad had just enough kick to make it interesting and the buns came out great!
And the burgers came out great, too!
I stuffed them with quattro formaggio - a 4-cheese Italian blend - and grilled them on my spankin' clean grill that I took apart and gave an annual tune-up.
I'm practicing for retirement. Putter. Putter. Sit. relax. Repeat.
I'm looking forward to this!
Breaking Out the Big Pots
While I was toiling away at work, today, Victor was at home making a big batch of sauce. We haven't had any sauce downstairs for weeks - and I can't tell you how much I've missed it. I really get the concept and convenience of jarred pasta sauce - I've just never found one I liked well enough to actually buy. And the sauce Victor makes is just perfection. It can be used as-is or played with for any number of different dishes.
Contrary to popular belief, canning really is easy. It takes about an hour to can 7 quarts of sauce - the maximum amount of quart jars that fit in my pressure canner - and most of it is unattended. During the 15 minute actual pressure-cooking time, the most important thing is merely making sure the pressure stays at 11 pounds - and all that takes is adjusting the flame under the pot.
Not difficult - and the payoff is spectacular.
There are scores of websites out there with great information, starting with The National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia. It has the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, 2015 revision. I don't know if there is a more recent version, but considering the state of our government, right now, I'm mildly surprised there's still a 2015 version online. Lots of good information.
Victor made 11 quarts of sauce, but since the canner only holds seven, I set three aside to freeze and we had one for dinner, tonight.
Victor puts pork or sausage in his sauce and this time around, he used some pork chops. I shredded one of them up to add to our dinner, tonight, and the other three will go with the three quarts in the freezer.
Total instant dinner.
I can't wait for the garden to start producing. I see a lot of canning happening this summer.
Chicken Skewers on the Grill
Kabobs, brochettes, skewers, satays... With apologies to Shakespeare, meat on a stick by any other name would smell as sweet. Or savory, as the case may be.
Back in the Dark Ages of my restaurant cooking, if we cooked it on a skewer, it was a brochette - and beef. Satay hadn't become mainstream in the USofA, yet, and kabob meant shish kabob - lamb. I don't recall anyone calling anything a skewer - other than the metal rod the meat and vegetables were threaded on.
My first experiences with satay that I remember were in The Philippines and in Singapore - bar girls in Olongapo wanting us to buy barbecue - something sailors would call monkey meat because we all know how culturally sensitive sailors were in the early '70s. I don't really know what it was - probably goat or mutton - but it went well with copious amounts of the local San Miguel beer.
Singapore was similar but different - a bit more refined, even though it was also street food. Spicy, tender, and cooked over open flame on a street corner in the now-defunct Old City, or on the now-defunct Bougis Street. There, it was usually served with a peanut sauce and consumed with copious amounts of Tiger beer.
Both places have changed dramatically since I was a lad serving in Uncle Sam's Yacht Club and the places the rose-colored glasses of my youth remember no longer exist. In a way, that's good, because if I ever went back and had them, again, I'd be really bummed if they weren't as good as I remember them to be. This way, they will always be perfection.
And speaking of perfection, tonight's chicken kabobs/skewers/brochettes were pretty good! I marinated chicken breasts in two types of rice wine, sesame oil, sambal oelek, sesame seeds, and garlic, threaded them on skewers with onions and bell peppers, and grilled until done.
Really simple. Really tasty. And another fun stroll down Culinary Memory Lane.
Two weeks to retirement. I'm sure there are going to be a lot more memories coming forward...
Peach Upside Down Cake
In keeping with our mini-dessert theme, Victor headed into the kitchen and made a mini Peach Upside Down Cake - and it is outrageously good! It's one of those things that is so basic in concept and so over the top in flavor. One simple perfectly-ripe peach and a simple vanilla cake blend together to make an anything but simple-tasting dessert! It's the ultimate in a few quality ingredients making a huge statement.
There's no trick to this other than getting into the kitchen and making it!.
Peach Upside Down Cake
Topping
- 1 peach, sliced
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Cake
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/3 cups flour
- 1/2 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 6" pan.
Topping:
Melt the butter and pour into pan. Sprinkle in brown sugar. Lay peach slices over mixture and sprinkle with nuts.
Cake:
Beat the butter and sugar until light.
Beat in the egg. Mix vanilla with milk.
Add the flour alternately with the milk in three additions.
Spread batter over peaches.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool slightly then invert onto serving plate.
Every bite put a smile on my face!