Category — Random

Photo by Michael Chow/AZCentral.com

Sunday’s solar eclipse transported me back to my childhood years at Navajo Elementary School.  And to memories of when there was an eclipse…. back in the “old days”.

After multiple severe warnings about NOT looking at the sun, we’d all take our two pieces of white paper outside, and catch glimpses of the eclipse through a pinhole in one sheet of paper, projected onto the other.

So, I did just that. I took two pieces of white paper, a pinhole in one, and “watched” the eclipse.

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Many of you already realize that I almost always put my posts up at the same time every morning. The exact time is 10:27 AM… just in case you did not know.

Not today.

Although I have about a weeks worth of recipes backed up and ready to post, today I want to share with you something more personal. A little family history.

My mother’s maiden name is Lorts. My grandfather, Andrew Lorts, founded Lorts Manufacturing in 1966 – right here in Phoenix, Arizona and produced large Early American-style pieces – including dining tables, occasional tables, bars, and roll-top desks.

The very lovely picture at the top of this post is of my family in front of the Lorts bar we had in my childhood home. I am 11 years old in this photo, so please think of your eleven-year-old self and do not judge!

In this next picture, I am a much cuter 5-year-old, on a family camping trip. Pictured with me are my older brother, Dennis, and my grandfather. Peeking out behind me is my grandparent’s beloved dog, Thumper.

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On Saturday, Lorie and I went on a field trip to Queen Creek.  Our first stop was the Schnepf Farms Peach Festival where we did not “polish off plates of peach-topped pancakes”, but we did “trek through the orchards” to pick peaches.

I’d love to report that it was a lovely day at the farm, but if the truth is told, it was too damn hot to be lovely! And schlepping around a box of heavy peaches didn’t help either.

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I had planned to put up a recipe today. I have it all typed and entered, I’ve purchased the necessary ingredients, I was ready to roll… until I just decided I didn’t want to make it. Not. Today.

The deal is, I’m in the middle of my three-week Wednesday night series of classes at Les Gourmettes and after prepping all morning and afternoon yesterday and then teaching last night, I just don’t have it in me to make the dish I planned to make today. It’s as if the little bratty girl inside me said, “No, I don’t want to do it and you can NOT make me!!!”

Alright, you spoiled 3-year-old, don’t cook today!  Instead, I’m gonna show you what I did with that lead glass window I purchased last month at Sweet Salvage. When I first posted about it, I said, “And I seriously have no idea why I had to have this 5-foot tall lead glass window or what the heck I’m going to do with it! Any ideas from you creative people out there?!?”  Not one of you came to my rescue with an ounce of help, so I had to go it on my own.  For the last 3 weeks, it has stood in a corner beneath my staircase. I’d pass it every day, asking myself, “Why did you buy that huge heavy thing and what the heck were you thinking?” 

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We all know that man has long been fascinated by three things. Fire, being outdoors, and telling the woman to just stand back – because the man knows what he is doing.

Dave forwarded me an email the other day. Since he works in an office, he no doubt receives dozens of these humorous emails each week, and this is the one he chooses to forward to me. You may ask why.  I, of course, already know the answer – because this is pretty much exactly how it goes down at our house.

Enjoy.

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I’ve only cooked one night, my dad’s birthday dinner, in over a week! That is so NOT like me, it’s such a rarity that it has probably been 3 or 4 years since it last happened. Well, if you exclude out-of-town vacations, that is.

What I’m trying to tell you is that I have nothing to share with you, recipe-wise. But I still have a few things to show you – Baseball. Gardening. Shopping! All of the photos were taken with my iPhone, the top two, were with a special camera app that I cannot recall the name of.  Marissa, will you please help me out with the answer?

I’ll begin with baseball. Dave and I went to our first Diamondbacks game of the season. We split season tickets with 8 or 9 other people. They are great seats in the third row behind the DBacks dugout. It was a total bust of a game though. Our guys lost to the Braves for the second night in a row. We left in the top of the 8th when the score was Braves – 7 and DBacks – a big fat ZERO. The final was 9 -1, Ouch! Let’s move on to something more pleasant, shall we? Shopping!

On Thursday, Peggy and I made our monthly trek to Sweet Salvage and I found several treasures. My favorite is this basket. I love the worn leather detail.

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This is Dave in his office on April 17th, tax day, this year.  After an especially long and grueling “tax season” I decided he needed a special “It’s Finally Over!!!” gift from me.  So I made up this basket… filled with some of his favorite things… here is how I did it.

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The BIG event this past weekend was the taping of … Jacques Pépin Cooks for Eight.

Barbara Fenzl brought legendary chef, author, and educator Jacques Pépin to Arizona to tape a very special cooking show that will first air on June 4 at 7:00 pm and will serve as the main pledge-drive program for our local PBS station, KAET – Channel 8.

The title has a double meaning; Jacques and Barbara not only cooked together for channel Eight, in addition, but the menu was also set like a meal for Eight people.

But the taping of the show wasn’t the only big thing that happened over the weekend… there was a KAET fundraising dinner the evening before, Saturday night, in the gorgeous East Room at Vincent’s on Camelback. Here is a look a the menu. The artwork was provided by the guest of honor.

Barbara gave the most lovely and loving introduction for Jacques to the 100+ guests.  I think that was my favorite part of the entire evening.  She spoke so beautifully and eloquently.  I am always proud to call her my friend and my mentor, but especially at that moment.

Chef Vincent Guerithault and his staff put together an intimate and delicious evening.

The two Frenchmen have been friends since the mid 1970’s, when Vincent first came to the United States. It was a spectacular evening and each guest received Jacques’ most recent cookbook, Essential Pépin.  Then at the end of the night, Jacques signed and personalized every single book to each guest – and as he was doing so, a photo was taken, as a memento of the evening for each person, as well.

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Linda and Jacques in Kim and Paul Howard’s backyard on April 15, 2012

On Saturday, I mentioned that I was working on something very BIG over the weekend. These pictures are a hint of just WHO and WHAT the BIG deal was all about.

If you do not already recognize the handsome gentleman in these photos, he is none other than world-renowned chef, Jacques Pépin.  And if you don’t already know who Jacques Pépin is… please either read THIS or THIS or THIS, or just Google “Jacques Pépin” and read up. I promise you will be very impressed with this amazing man.

Kim Howard, Barbara Fenzl, and Jacques in my backyard on October 26, 2008 to celebrate Les Gourmettes’ 25 Anniversary.

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I’ve been working on something VERY BIG for the last couple of days and it will come to full fruition on Sunday… so I shall tell you all about it next week.  Until then…

I took a bunch of pictures of our yard when it was just beginning to bloom and then again yesterday…  I’m going to share with you some of the progressions. The bunnies and quail are year-round residents.  And you may recall my drama-trauma baby quail story from last year at about this time… if not, please do check it out HERE! It’s quite the story.  To avoid the same sequence of events this year, here is what I did to the “quail pot” next to our pool.

I had to do it! Those darn quail came back to nest again and I had to chase them off so they would find another place to lay their eggs. I thought they would have learned their lesson. But no!  First I stuck a bunch of cardboard between the plant and the pot, but they still tried to get in there. So the bubble wrap went in and that seemed to do the trick. Thank goodness, I could not deal with that again!

OK, so my yard is blooming like crazy right now and I am in love with it. We didn’t have any hard freezes this past winter and everything is big and healthy, so I’m taking it all in while I can.

The “centerpiece” of the yard is this orchid tree. It’s pretty enough most of the year, but in the spring… it is a stunner!

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