Tantalizing Thursday

This week I had the opportunity to entertain on a Monday. This is an odd evening to have friends in as it is the beginning of the work/school week, the festive atmosphere quickly confuses you into believing it’s a Saturday, and there is no recovery day at the end. Regardless, my out-of-town friend, his two sons, and our good friends and their two daughters joined my family of five for a fun night in at Casa 187. Knowing the week increasingly intensifies schedule-wise, I chose to make an executive decision and order pizza for our main course that my husband could pick up on the way home from work. I make fantastic pizza at home with a Boboli crust and my own homemade pesto sauce, but I was going for easy and my four year old who refuses to eat my pizza exclaimed upon hearing we were having pizzeria pizza, “Oh good, I LOVE that pizza!” So, the order was placed. But, being the diehard entertainer I am, I felt it necessary to add my own homemade touch to the evening. First I whipped up vanilla bean cupcakes with triple chocolate icing (mini chips in the frosting as added decadence) and had the four year old help me decorate them with 3 different kinds of sprinkles. Then I went to the market to assemble the ingredients needed to make my favorite antipasto to serve as an appetizer/salad before the pizza. It is that recipe that I am divulging today.

Chief 187’s Antipasto

The following ingredients are merely a guide; use only what you like, substitute your favorite items, omit what you don’t like. Amounts are based on how many are eating,

Ingredients:

1 bag salad with Romaine

1 jar Giardiniera (pickled vegetables)

1 can tuna

1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas)

1 can/jar olives (black, green with pimentos or a mix)

1 can quartered artichoke hearts

Several thin slices of salami, soppressata, pepperoni, and/or ham

Equal slices provolone or other Italian cheese thinly slices

Parmigiano  Reggiano shavings (optional)

Extra virgin olive oil

Vinegar (balsamic/red wine)

Pepper

Assembly:

Using the largest platter available fitting for the amount of ingredients you are using, lay the salad green all over the platter as a “bed”. Antipasto should be aesthetically pleasing so placement of ingredients is vitally important to create the overall effect. Next, place the Giardiniera equally over the four points of your platter – North, South, East, West – with a slotted spoon; reserve pickled juice for dressing. Hollow out a portion of the middle of your platter where the greens are and simply add your drained tuna (not prepared salad) to the center of your platter. Lightly add some of the reserved pickle juice to moisten and flavor your tuna. Open, drain, and rinse the can of garbanzo beans. Sprinkle them liberally all over the platter. Open the can/jar of olives, drain but don’t rinse. Place them liberally around the platter as well. Drain but do not rinse the artichoke hearts and scatter them around the platter. To make your antipasto look restaurant quality and artistic, take one piece deli-sliced meat and one piece of cheese and place them on top of one another on a cutting board, working with only two pieces at a time (1 meat slice, 1 cheese slice). Cut a slit from outer edge to the center and stop. Curl the meat/cheese into a cone overlapping the meat/cheese where the slit is. Nestle the cone onto your platter amongst the other ingredients as your ‘decoration’. Repeat until all remaining meat/cheese cones are scattered pleasingly around the entire platter. If using Parmigiano Reggiano, secure a hunk from the grocery store and, after letting it sit out for a short while, use a vegetable peeler to create shavings to strew over the entire antipasto. This cheese is flavorful and quite expensive. Use sparingly as a garnish. To dress the salad you can use more of the pickled juice from the Giardiniera or lightly spritz the entire platter with extra virgin olive oil and vinegar of choice (vinegar is actually supposed to be added first, then the oil); use less than you would to toss a salad. You don’t want to flood your ingredients. Put the oil and vinegar on the table for people to add more if need be. Finally, add pepper to taste.

If having a larger crowd simply double your ingredients or more! This recipe as it appears can serve as few as four people or as many as ten depending on what else you are serving to eat.

I am always curious how the recipes I post go over with the readers. If you try this, please let me know how your enjoyed it. If you have a recipe to share, please do so! I hope this starter/meal makes it on to your table in the near future. Thank you for sharing a part of your Thursday with me. I hope you return tomorrow for the Friday Music Blog, always a terrific way to rock our way into the weekend!

My Love of the Theater

Broadway musicals have long been a passion in my life. Since I was a little girl the stage, the music, the costumes, and the stories stoked the fires of my imagination, and took me away to a fantasy world of unparalleled beauty. From Peter Pan and Annie to Dreamgirls and A Chorus Line I was luckily and thankfully exposed to the theater at its best. I was also equally thrilled to see local theater and high school productions as well. Upon becoming a mother I decided that my own children would be shown theater in all of its forms and hopefully I would foster a love and appreciation for musical theater in them.

As a little girl my mother took me to Peter Pan with another family and we had an amazing experience. I neither remember who the star was (Sandy Duncan?) nor the entire story, but I do remember vividly the feeling I got in the darkened theater watching Peter Pan sail through the sky and the magic I witnessed at every turn. Not long after I was taken to see Annie and I was overjoyed with the entire production. I knew a couple of songs and adored the rest of the score. I identified, strangely enough, with the young Annie although I had my biological parents who loved me, it was not the era of the Depression, I didn’t have red curly hair and FDR was no longer president! But I identified nonetheless and made room for Annie in my heart from that day forward! My mother loved musical theater as well and was enamored with Patti Lupone as Evita. She played the soundtrack constantly and I became a staunch fan of that show as well. As I grew older, but long before I was a teenager, my parents told me to choose a show I’d like to see from the “twofer” tickets available in my elementary school office. I watched television a lot in those days and where I grew up Broadway shows were constantly being advertised. I knew what I wanted to see and obtained the “twofers”; it was Dreamgirls. To my parents’ credit, even though they and my brothers were rather uninterested in seeing the show, I was taken. I loved the entire show and they all admitted it was excellent even though it wasn’t necessarily their taste!

Throughout my childhood I was taken to local theater and saw shows like Brigadoon as well as nonmusical theater like Death Trap and Equus, all of which I enjoyed immensely. When my brother became involved with the drama department in high school, (he was a sound engineer), I was exposed to Pippin. This solidified my lifelong fandom of theater. I saw young performers not much older than I bring characters to life in such a way that I became nearly obsessed! I saw the production numerous times, wrote a fan letter to one of the principles, and decorated my room in every bit of literature and paraphernalia from that specific production. I saw everything the high school put on each spring: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Barnum, and, when I finally was a student at the high school, The King of Hearts (a rather miserable show, but the one during which my husband and I finalized our romance).  Even after my parents moved and I was enrolled in a different high school I stayed involved in the drama department and worked on South Pacific and The Pajama Game. I was continuously lucky to be taken to shows on Broadway while in high school like A Chorus Line and Me and My Girl. During college I was gifted tickets to one of the hottest shows on Broadway, Phantom of the Opera. It was good, but not until I saw it a second time a few years later did I truly understand all of the well-deserved hype. While living in Virginia for college I saw Fiddler on the Roof for the first time and instantly loved it. After college and back in the New York metropolitan area, I saw Big River, Three Penny Opera starring Sting, and Rent. Rent became an all-time favorite and I am still passionate about this musical; so much so that I am sure it deserves a blog of its own.

The show that takes this story full circle is called Les Miserables.  It was ten years old when I was able to see this on Broadway, but it still was dynamic, epic, emotional, and awe-inspiring. The music is brilliant, the staging impressive, and the cast talented beyond compare. From the moment the show started to its all too quick conclusion (it’s actually a rather long show, but I never want it to end) I was completely wrapped up in the world created. I saw the show twice before it left Broadway and was overjoyed when PBS aired the Tenth Anniversary Celebration Concert of Les Miserables. I have been and always will be a rabid fan. Now, twenty-five years after the debut of Les Miserables, a concert honoring that distinction has been performed and captured for audiences of PBS. This time my husband and I were able to share it with our three children. We were not sure what to expect as, at ages 8, 4, and 1, they are far too young to understand the many themes and nuances of the show, but they really liked it! My oldest keeps singing the opening strains of the show as he goes about his daily business. I love it! Through a shared love of theater and Les Miserables specifically, we can continue to welcome the theater in our home and expose our children to one of our strong passions.

I thought about using this as one of my Simple Joys entries, but as is evident, there was too much involved. My love of theater and the exposure of my children to such is obviously too much for a simple paragraph. I hope that whatever your passion is – racing, football, theater, etc. – you are able to enjoy it now and expose your children to it as well. There is little in this world more gratifying than sharing what you love with those you love!

Simple Joys

I was humbly overwhelmed by the plethora of Simple Joys I enjoyed this week. Some weeks are simply that way, an overabundance of blessings that bring infinite joy. These are the credits that need to be stored for a rainy day, when joys are hard to come by and times are crummy. Writing down my Simple Joys weekly is giving me a whole lot of credit in life’s bank; my goal is to deposit much more than I will ever need to take out. Without further ado, here is this week’s Simple Joys.

My niece. My niece turned ten this week.  I remember her birth vividly and the moment I held her for the first time. She was the first in our family and such a special little girl; well, she was young but has never been little! Long and lanky, athletic and statuesque, my niece is intelligent, artistic, creative, talented, sweet, and patient. As an only child, she relies on cousins and friends to provide familial sibling relationships, but is equally comfortable alone with a book or a sketchpad. My niece makes ten look like sixteen, but having two inordinately tall parents adds to her mature look; she towers over all of her little friends who are older or the same age! Swimmer, artist, student, friend, cousin, niece, and numerous other words cannot begin to describe the whole of my niece. She is quite simply put, wonderful.

My oldest. My oldest child, my son, had a particularly trying week. In addition to all of the demands placed on a third grader who has to work diligently to do well, this week my son had to test for his brown belt in Karate. This involved taking a test that is cumulative and tests his knowledge, techniques, physicality, focus, wherewithal, and confidence. From calisthenics to basics, Kata (choreographed fight scenarios) to partaking in a line fight, my son, eight years old, had his metal tested. I’m so proud and pleased to report that my son met all of the challenges with determination, confidence, strength, and focus splendidly. His father and I were so overwhelmed with emotion as these are particularly tough traits to teach and truly parts of a person that need to be developed from the inside out. Our son, thankfully, is maturing, learning, growing, and rising to the occasion in the appropriate times.

My middle child. My middle child, my second son, had an exciting week himself. Often taking a back seat to his older brother literally and figuratively, this little boy is a natural athlete, incredible student, and an impressive child. He, too, tested for a new belt in Karate. He is consistently the most mature in the class as well as the most coordinated and sharp when it comes to the actual Karate. He easily advanced. After the belt ceremony finished, my son was a participant in an inner-school tournament. He performed his own age-appropriate Kata in front of an auditorium full of parents, relatives, older students, and peers, and did so loudly, strongly, with gusto, and earned the first place medal for the effort! He was a shining star and was flying high on seeing his hard work pay off in spades.

My baby girl. My daughter is at an incredibly frustrating age for both of us! She is beginning to talk but her vocabulary has nowhere near caught up to her wants. She is teething and in what I fear is constant pain or discomfort. She is curious to a fault and pulls things down off every countertop courting danger at every turn. “No” is uttered from me more times than I care to count and often we both wind up in tears at some part of the day. But, having admitting all of that, I can tell you unabashedly and passionately, I love my daughter with every ounce of my being and am so blessed that she is here and a part of my family. These trying times are the ones that make parenting tough. I know over the years we’ll be battling each other over everything from clothing and makeup to boyfriends and careers. But having her in my life, savoring her hugs, kisses, and knock knock jokes (“Knock knock” she babbles. “Who’s there?” I respond. “Dada” she states – EVERY time. “Dada who?” I ask. To which she replies, also every time, with uproarious giggles!) makes my world complete. My family, the children I was meant to have, care for, love, raise, and cherish, are all here. I  am so very lucky and blessed to know that and appreciate them all in my life.

Twilight. Lest I get too overly sappy about my family, I wanted to add this final Simple Joy for the week. My friend, at my request, lent me her copy of the best-selling novel Twilight, a story about a teenage girl and the vampire with whom she falls in love! Although certainly not the most erudite of books nor the best thing I’ve ever read, it is entirely engrossing, fast-paced, and intriguing. Most importantly it is erotic and sensual without being overtly sexual. For me it captures all of the newness and insistence one feels in the beginning of a relationship. In a rush I was transported back in time to when I met my husband. I, too, could not wait to see him, be with him, talk to him, and embark on a lifetime together. The reminder made me fall in love with him all over again. So this book definitely makes the Simple Joys list for allowing me to revisit my own passionate love story.

I am finding it necessary to make a decision to end the Simple Joys blog as opposed to wondering if I have enough written. I am grateful that my cup runneth over. It is always a sincere delight for me to read your Simple Joys as well. Won’t you indulge me?

Monday Movie Blog

Welcome back to a new workweek and the Monday Movie Blog. As we continue our alphabetical odyssey we stop at the letter “L” today. Please list any and all movies that you enjoy that’s title begins with the letter “L”. Make sure to include some of the actors who star in the film and a brief synopsis or reasons why you like this/these movie(s).  This is the twelfth letter we have spotlighted making an even dozen. We’re closing in on the halfway point of the alphabet and thus nearly midway through the resource we are continuously creating.

Do you prefer watching movies in a darkened theater with a large tub of popcorn topped with a “butter-like” substance or do you rather enjoy staying home and watching from the comfort of your home couch/bed? Are you ever in line to see a movie the minute it premieres or do you see blockbusters a decade or so after they were released? Do you watch the same genre or do you dip from all the different types of movies?

Movies are a huge part of American culture. We value our actors as royalty of sorts and pay inordinate amounts of money to see movies. Escapism is what many are after for two hours and movies are a relatively affordable way to get away from ‘normal’ life. Movie stars are usually attractive and seemingly larger than life (although many are quite short!). What kind of movie lover are you? Why are movies a favorite way for you to spend your valuable time?

We lost one of American cinema’s leading ladies, royalty of sorts, last week, Elizabeth Taylor. She with the violet eyes, spellbinding beauty, and tortured soul was the epitome of grace and glamour in her heyday, and blossomed into a tireless AIDS activist in the latter years of her life. In recent years she had fallen ill and was out of the public’s eye. Her death, although not surprising, was sad and closes the door on an era of old Hollywood. Elizabeth’s jewels, never borrowed but hers to keep, were worn proudly and effortlessly to every event public and private; hair done, smile in place, Elizabeth worked hard at her acting, her activism, and her friendships. If you are a fan of the late Elizabeth Taylor, please list your favorite Taylor movies/roles.

Thank you for spending part of your Monday with the Monday Movie Blog and me. I hope you took some time to leave your selections and answer some of the questions about movies. Please join me tomorrow for my favorite feature of the week, Simple Joys. 

Friday Music Blog

Welcome back into the Friday Music Blog! This week topic is taking a hard edge. The focus is songs that are considered to be from the era of Arena Rock. From the late 1960s through the 1970s and ending in the 1980s, name any and all songs that you think of as “Arena Rock”. As this is totally subjective, there is no right or wrong answer, but not answering is unacceptable!

From Led Zepplin to Boston, Black Sabbath to Bruce Springsteen, and Queen to Van Halen, list the songs that you consider “Arena Rock”. Educate your fellow readers/music lovers and me on what you consider to be classic Arena Rock.

Wishing you all a great weekend. I invite you all back here on Monday for another week of original blogs here at Chief 187 Chatter. From Monday Movie Blogs to Friday Music Blogs, Simple Joys to Tantalizing Thursdays, and a free day in the middle of the week for me to wax poetic on whatever is on my mind, I hope you find something each day that you identify, enjoy, or agree. It is my distinct pleasure to write these very personal blogs, and an honor for me to have you read them. Thank you!

Tantalizing Thursday

Today’s focus is not about food; try take-out tonight or throw a frozen dinner into the microwave. We have a much more important topic to discuss, passion. I’m reading a book, the first in a series, that is a powerful reminder of what first love, infatuation, and passion feel like. When another person is all consuming, their smell is intoxicating, and the site of him/her is enough to make you dizzy. Every thought revolves around him/.her, food is a second or third thought, sleep matters not, and every decision is based around whether you can see or be with him/her.

For those of you who are single and are searching, these feelings are likely to strike. Some may be so addicted to the feeling that new relationships are begun for these reasons, but once the newness wears off, a new relationship is sought to mimic the feelings. For others, you may be in a long-term monogamous relationship but the infatuation is long gone, replaced by comfortableness, routine, and security. But I resist the idea that because true love has been found, passion has to be the casualty. There are ways to rekindle the spark that drew you together like moths to a flame.

Our greatest sexual organ is our brain. Using this to our advantage we can trick our minds into feeling the newness, intensity, and passion again. By digging into our memories, reenacting the past, and highlighting the best of who we were when first involved, a stirring can be achieved. By treating one another with respect, valuing the time you have together, and paying attention to one another, a bond remains through the stresses of everyday life, raising children, dealing with ailing parents, dreadful jobs, and a miserable economy. By keeping the relationship strong, the pilot light of passion stays lit and can be stoked to an inferno when time permits. But it’s important to remember that in addition to treating your partner well, you must treat yourself well or you cannot be a happy partner. By treating yourself with respect (like you do your spouse), pampering yourself (like you do the children or your friends), and being kind to yourself (like you are to neighbors and strangers) you are investing in the best commodity you have, YOU. By allowing yourself to be comfortable with yourself, to accept yourself, and to feel good about yourself, you bring a happier, freer, and sexier self to the table. Passion is easier to tap when you aren’t beating yourself up for how you look, how you feel, or other negative things.

So, take a page from the bestseller Twilight I’m reading. Abandon your grown up self once in a while. Become engrossed with your partner like you did when you two first met and fell for one another. Breathe him/her in. Give in to passion and temptation (with each other), and delight in every phone call, every glimpse, and every word. Steal kisses, hold hands, and give in to urges. The reason the book is such a bestseller, in my opinion, is the building passion between the main characters. Of course, the vampire plot has a lot to do with it, too, but it’s the sensual scenes that are written superbly that are holding my attention and have me at a peak frenzy!

As I wrote in yesterday’s blog “Cheers to Life”, life is far too short to not live it passionately. So, find your partner (or go look for one) and start living a more passionate, intimate, and intense life – together. 

Cheers to Life

Yesterday I had to run an errand at the little post office I like to frequent. It is tiny, quaint, and run by a woman who is as good as gold; friendly, helpful, and kind, she is a wonderful woman and I go out of my way to throw my business her way. During my stop today I inquired about her as I usually do. She confided that her health was ailing and a lot was going on. I was disheartened and incredibly shocked.

This woman, I found out yesterday, is my age, thirty-eight. Our lives have played out differently. She has a child who is finishing high school and moving on to higher education while my oldest is eight. She is a single mom and I am married for the better part of my life (18 years). She is hard working and has had as many as three jobs at once, not including “mommy”; working in a pharmacy of a local grocery store, the post office, and as a police officer in a dangerous town in New Jersey. Currently she is a policewoman and postal worker. When I prompted her to tell what was wrong medically she relayed that she contracted MRSA from a recent hospital stay after emergency surgery. While treating that they found she also has Lupus and then they found a lump they were concerned was a tumor. So many problems for a woman who should be in the prime of her life! She is my age and yet she is facing major medical crisis, and, facing them alone (no spouse) and with a son who is still dependant upon her for love and support. I asked her if she handles stress well (before all of the diagnosis) and she replied, “No, I’m always stressed about everything.” This saddened me for her. I left things by telling her I would pray for her and would continue to send my best thoughts and wishes.

This story is sad and scary. But, unfortunately, it is akin to many others. Whether cancer or heart disease or any of the myriad other illnesses, lethal or otherwise, that can affect one, getting a diagnosis of that magnitude is traumatizing. A person’s true metal is called upon as well as the strength of their support system. It is a fact most people never think about until thrust into the situation against their will.

My focus today is on self. If you, like me, are relatively healthy, are living a comfortable if not lavish life, and can simply be at peace with yourself, you are all the better for it. All too often stress is the thread of undoing in one’s life. Not handling stress in a healthful way – exercise, diet, venting, or simply saying “no” when one’s plate is too full – can be detrimental to your health in the short and long term. Internalizing stress has been shown to eat away from the inside out. Instead of choosing to keep stress, learn to let it go.

My oldest son is a worrier. He gets that from me and I get it from my dad. But I’m learning that the worry I invite into my mind is usually far worse than the reality that occurs. When I face my worries straight on they dissolve and are most manageable. I’m trying to teach this to my son before life’s worries increase so he has the proper tools in place – confidence, coping skills, wherewithal – to tackle any obstacle or worry that he encounters. Worry, a type of stress, or stress-inducer, is truly a useless emotion that only hurts the worrier. It does not offer solution; it merely leaves you mired in the problem.

Living a healthy life is important; living a good life is, too. We never know when our time has come. Life is indeed short. I’m learning to never waste a moment. Fighting is pointless, but clearing the air and talking about disagreements is vital. Worry is pointless, but dealing with tasks is important and letting go of things we cannot control is necessary. Surrounding yourself with people who love and value you must be a priority. Enjoying life is the key. Find joy in every day. Appreciate the here and now, dig in deep with your passions, and don’t let fear, frustration, worry, and hopelessness color your world. Embrace your life, your family, and your work. Live the best way you can and, instead of choosing to see the dark side of everything, look to the positive; it may just save your life.