Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Thursday, June 17, 2010

56 Things To Remember


    On the eve of my last birthday I wrote a post- Fifty-five Things I've Learned in 55 Years. Well, Babycakes. June is here again. There's another candle on the gluten-free cake. And fifty-six things I want to talk about. Or more accurately, remember. To remind myself. Because at my age? Remembering is an art not a science. So write this down. It's important. You know what they say.

    Here today gone maƱana.


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56 Things To Remember


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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Chocolate Sorbet- Vegan and Dairy-Free


    Rich chocolate sorbet- without dairy. Pass the spoon.

    Two trends are sneaking in to recipe searches this week. The first? Super bowl recipes. You know, guy-style chicken chili and Crock-Pot crowd pleasers. Party food for the Big Game. Guacamole and hummus. Nachos. The second trend is a search closer to my own heart and its tender sensibilities.  You may have already guessed it. Because you, Wonderful Reader, are smart, savvy and, well. Let's just gush a minute with appreciation. You are downright fabulous (with impeccable taste and discernment, I might add).

    The second big trend is a search for romantic recipes and Valentine's Day inspiration. You're not surprised, are you? (See, I knew you were brilliant).

    I'd much rather conjure up chocolate recipes than beans and burgers. Sexy food is more interesting than AstroTurf and lines of scrimmage and backfields in motion. And what the Hail Mary is a down, anyway? First down, fourth down. All these downs and off sides. It makes my head spin.


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Chocolate Sorbet- Vegan and Dairy-Free


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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Quinoa Mushroom Pilaf

    Quinoa pilaf recipe with mushrooms, scallions and bell peppers
    Quinoa pilaf with mushrooms, scallions and bell peppers.


    In between bouts of rain and nostalgia (I prickle using the word nostalgia, to be honest; it smacks of sentimentality, not a trait I cultivate or suffer gladly, but I'll get to that later) I've been craving quinoa like there's no tomorrow, as if I'm living in my own post-apocalyptic genre movie, foraging for nuts and berries on a desert highway in my fashionably shredded mud spattered get-up complete with goggles and chain link bracelets, wishing I had the taut burnished thighs of Tina Turner instead of my own wobbly, pale set of limbs.

    Yeah. I'm talking voracious.


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Quinoa Mushroom Pilaf


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https://123celebritywallpaper.blogspot.com/2010/01/quinoa-mushroom-pilaf.html


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Friday, December 4, 2009

Pumpkin Quinoa Cookies

    Pumpkin cookies made with quinoa flakes
    Pumpkin cookies made with quinoa flakes taste like oatmeal- but better.


    Dear Reader,

    Yes, Babycakes, I'm talking to you. You know I love you, right? In fact, I'm crazy about you. I read your comments (beyond ten thousand now!) and I smile at your Twitters (or is the correct nomenclature actually tweets?). I'm giddy you follow the blog on Facebook. I am humbled by your generous and warm e-mails (I save them). Your feedback and support keeps me going and inspires me. Does this sound suspiciously like an anniversary post?

    Yeah. I can't fool you, can I?

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Post Title

Pumpkin Quinoa Cookies


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https://123celebritywallpaper.blogspot.com/2009/12/pumpkin-quinoa-cookies.html


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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Apple-Pear Multigrain Muffins

    Tender and sweet apple-pear muffins

    Today I have new muffin recipe for your gluten-free repertoire- with apples and pears. And a story. A story not about muffins or fruit or sunlit pastoral memories of picking apples with my grandfather (he wasn't that kind of grandfather). No, no childhood ramblings. A story instead that's more of a snippet. A conversation, actually.

    The dating game.

    "I wish I knew you in high school," I tell my husband.

    This is not news to him. I say it all the time lately, now that I am in my second adolescence, fifteen years past mid-life. I sketch for him study hall humiliations sharing a bottle of red table wine and mixed olives. I search for words to depict how it feels when a snickering jock punches your clutch of books with his fists, sending you to your knees to rescue the sprawl of English homework, algebra and biology books that emit the faint smell of ink and gum.

    He hates to hear this. 

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Apple-Pear Multigrain Muffins


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https://123celebritywallpaper.blogspot.com/2009/09/apple-pear-multigrain-muffins.html


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Thursday, June 18, 2009

Fifty Five Things I've Learned in 55 Years

    Smile, look pretty.

    Last December, my blogging amiga Kalyn posted a list for her birthday: Sixty Things I've Learned in Sixty Years. Like so many readers, friends and fellow food bloggers, I was inspired by her post. So as birthday number fifty-five (fifty-five? how is that possible?) sat on the horizon as opaque and huge as June Gloom in Los Angeles, I was inspired to write my own list of hard won wisdom. Just to cheer myself up. And shake some cobwebs loose. Fifty-five just scares the pants off me, I gotta confess.


    Fifty Five Things I've Learned in 55 Years

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Fifty Five Things I've Learned in 55 Years


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https://123celebritywallpaper.blogspot.com/2009/06/fifty-five-things-i-learned-in-55-years.html


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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Sweet Potato Coffee Cake- and a love story

    Snow in New Mexico
    Winter in Northern New Mexico- my view.

    It's been snowy, windy, cold- you name it. From all the tweets I've been reading over on Twitter lately, I'm not alone. Far from it. This has been one crazy snowy month. So what does a gluten-free goddess do when she gets stuck in the middle of the desert with no buckwheat flour, no sorghum, and no four-wheel drive? (Note to self- if you're going to live in rural Northern New Mexico, Darling, a cute and thrifty little Honda Fit won't cut it.)

    Snowed in and hungry she does the only sensible thing.

    She scans the pantry and pulls out a Whole Foods gluten-free cake mix and starts stirring things up. She starts imagining dirt bombs. And bakes up a coffee cake worthy of the winter holidays.

    The love part of the story?

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Post Title

Sweet Potato Coffee Cake- and a love story


Post URL

https://123celebritywallpaper.blogspot.com/2008/12/sweet-potato-coffee-cake-and-love-story.html


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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Cider Roasted Vegetables

    A pan of fresh vegetables ready for roasting
    Roasted vegetables are an easy, fit for company favorite.



    Roasted vegetables. As you may have guessed from my last recipe, they are a favorite staple at our house. And beyond easy. We make them at least twice a week- a convivial ritual. Steve and I join forces in the kitchen at cocktail hour and cut up heaps of vegetables, sipping wine and talking politics. Or religion. Human behavior. Projection. Affect and temperament. All those spiky topics your grandmother warned you not to talk about at dinner parties (or at least in mixed company). We talk, all right. And talk.

    After all, we're simpatico.

    We're on the same ethical and moral page. We share the same values (muy importante in a marriage, let me tell you). And we're on safe ground here in our tiny desert kitchen- at least as long as the bank holding the mortgage doesn't go belly up (but money is another topic a "polite" woman doesn't discuss).

    Steve and I are as fearless and hopeful with another as we were on our very first date- a cup of coffee (make that three) at Jack's Out Back in Yarmouthport. When he asked me where I saw myself in ten years- and told me he wasn't looking for a mother- I knew I'd found the man for me.

    And last night- the one year mark of the unfortunate hip incident- as we stood in the very spot of my Charlie Brown smack down, rustling up passionate discourse and tossing veggies left and right into a waiting roasting pan and punctuating Mamet style pauses with. Glugs. Of olive oil. And. Pinches of sea salt. My husband slid the pan into the hot oven. And kissed me.

    Dinner is done, he said.

    May this election soon be, I murmured.

    And I raised my glass to the future.


    Cider Roasted Vegetables

    While the veggies are roasting their earthy little hearts out, getting all golden and tender and sweet, put on a pot of your favorite brown rice or quinoa seasoned with a little olive oil and a sprinkle of curry, cumin, or Old Bay Seasoning.

    Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

    Wash and cut your favorite mix of vegetables and toss them into a large baking pan. Mix and match. Some folks worry about pairing the wrong vegetables but honestly, I've never had a problem combining. Just make sure you cut the assorted veggies in an evenhanded manner, keeping the sizes relatively close. Denser vegetables like carrots I usually slice thinner, knowing they'll take a bit longer to cook through.

    1 sweet or red onion, cut into wedges
    2 carrots, sliced
    6 baby gold, purple or red potatoes, cut up
    1 1/2 cups butternut squash or pumpkin, peeled, cubed
    Half a cabbage- green or purple- sliced
    1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
    1 cup cauliflower florets
    1 yellow squash, cut into half moons
    A few green beans, whole, trimmed
    A portobello mushroom or two, sliced or cut up
    Lots of garlic, several whole or minced cloves


    Toss the vegetables into a large roasting pan. Season the veggies with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Make your sauce.

    Cider Roasting Sauce:

    3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

    3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
    1 cup natural apple cider
    1 tablespoon agave, honey or brown sugar

    Stir to blend. Pour the sauce over the veggies, toss well to coat.

    Sprinkle with warming spices, if you like. Curry, nutmeg, a touch of cinnamon, some thyme. Roast for 30 to 45 minutes- or until the veggies are tender, to your liking.

    Serve over cooked brown rice or quinoa. Add a condiment for more protein- hummus is especially delicious with roasted vegetables.
    Add crumbles of goat cheese, if you like.





    More Options:

    Add a can of drained white beans or chick peas for added protein; stir them into the vegetables during the last 15-20 minutes of roasting, to heat through.

    Leftover roasted veggies can be baked into yummy quiches and frittatas or tossed into soups.



    Omnivores can add in sliced cooked sausage or pieces of cooked chicken during the last 20 minutes of roasting; heat through.

     


Post Title

Cider Roasted Vegetables


Post URL

https://123celebritywallpaper.blogspot.com/2008/10/cider-roasted-vegetables.html


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Monday, March 24, 2008

Sticky Notes (on an anniversary)

    Misty arroyo, near Abiquiu New Mexico
    Mist on the mesa- toward Abiquiu.

    We choose our partners with a secret eye seeking the twin. Not the twin in the mirror, but the lost twin in shadow. The discarded, smothered twin we poked and twisted and kicked under the bed of childhood. The Other. The Everything We Are Not. The Abandoned One.

    Forgotten in order to please.

    If the stars are kind and align just right, you choose well. And The Chosen shimmers with your own potential, reflecting not what you have found but what you seek. And basking in their soul mate glow you grow- just a little. You stretch and you risk- just a little. With time and fledgling self awareness you notice a glint sparking back at you and you reach to claim it, knowing, This belongs to me. I am this, too.

    And you take it back.

    This unburdens your partner, piece by shining piece- who is, by design, if you have not done the work of reclaiming, either bored or chafing beneath the yoke of your golden-hued projection. Or worse- wandering off in search of eyes that see something new, or more authentic.

    When people ask, What is the secret of a good marriage? I usually answer, Chemistry. And good manners. Especially when it comes to the toilet seat. And then I laugh. Because it's true. But only a slice of the truth. The more complicated truth (and one you don't share at dinner parties) is a messy, juggling, wrestling wrangle with the aspects of two separate selves discovering two mysterious twins in the marriage bed.

    You see, it's not always safe to integrate.

    The squelched and sore parts of you can knock apart your coupled equilibrium. Don't kid yourself. It's not ever easy to bid for wholeness. To grow. Growth means change. And change is challenging. Even in the best of circumstances. So some days it's frighteningly tempting to believe that the dust balled fragments skulking in the shadows are not worth the effort of excavation.

    Denial and distraction can smell pretty good at first.

    But one cloudy day when your mending hip is aching and your desert skin is itching, you glance up from the kitchen counter cluttered with sticky spoons and banana peels, and you meet a clear gaze that sees you for who you really are- not some projected angel in the house, not some idealized muse, or nurturing mother stand-in. But who you really are in all your unadorned, quirky, burnished glory.

    And you thank not the stars, or luck, or even fate. You know better. You've done your homework. So has he. So you smile a slow smile and crack, What are you looking at?

    The love of my life, he says.





    Happy 13th Anniversary, Steve.



    Karina

Post Title

Sticky Notes (on an anniversary)


Post URL

https://123celebritywallpaper.blogspot.com/2008/03/sticky-notes-on-anniversary.html


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Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Acorn Squash with Green Chiles and Equal Love

    Acorn squash recipe with mild green chiles is vegan and gluten free
    My kinda squash. Kicked up with green chiles.


    I deeply (if not profoundly) doubt the ever expanding food blog galaxy needs yet another squash recipe, but.

    I can't help myself.

    Right before the Charlie Brown style tile floor smack down (aka hip incident), I threw together a flavor combo I am crazy about. Nutty for. Head over heals smack your lips and toss aside your chaste maple syrup Pilgrim traditions for. That's right. I got radical.

    I added chopped roasted New Mexican green chiles to my roasted acorn squash. And a sexy pinch of cumin. A golden drizzle of fruity olive oil. Impudent changes to the way we do things around here that would have sent a certain lanky, curly-haired ex-boyfriend of mine scurrying for his cream of mushroom soup casserole. In other words, Gentle Reader, home to Mommy.

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Post Title

Acorn Squash with Green Chiles and Equal Love


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https://123celebritywallpaper.blogspot.com/2007/11/acorn-squash-with-green-chiles-and.html


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Monday, October 22, 2007

Screwed! But Sparky and Esteban Save the Day

    My burro Sparky

    Meet Sparky.

    He's my new bed and blanket companion. Looking at him makes me smile. After the fall- there's an awful lot of imagery, sensation and emotion refracting inside this more-than-slightly addled post hip surgery brain of mine (this is a thinly veiled mea culpa for any bad writing that follows) but I wanted to send out a heartfelt thanks- lickity split!- to all of you, for your kind notes and sweet messages. I cherish every one.

    My world has been whittled down to a queen size bed and some 800 square feet of floor space. I must keep- totally- off my left leg for a minimum of eight weeks to give my fractured femoral neck (screwed back together with three titanium screws) a fighting chance.

    If you're a betting soul, here are the odds of me keeping my own hip: 50/50.


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Screwed! But Sparky and Esteban Save the Day


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Saturday, September 22, 2007

How to Leave in 24 Hours

    Packing

    On the way to Santa Fe you get a phone call. It's for your husband. You overhear snippets and wait patiently. There is interest in another script. Real interest. Driving talk turns on a dime from the grocery list (where you just added butternut squash in bumpy cursive) to the wisdom vs. craziness of dropping the day's plans and booking a flight to LAX. You sit quietly in the hot car, squinting at the blur of sunbaked sage along the highway while your husband thinks it over (and inside you are jumping, yelling, Why not? Let's go! This is everything you've dreamed of- script meetings, casting conversations- but, really, it's his call). You do your best to embody Zen detachment.

    What do you think? he turns and asks. 

    You just smile. He knows what you think. You've been bitching about being under-stimulated for weeks, getting all gloomy again. Then suddenly it's a go. You're leaving in twenty-four hours. You start picking through dirty jeans and shirts. Distracted by the early morning slant of sun warming the tumbleweeds, you leave the laundry to grab a camera. Five minutes later you notice the bowl of ripe tomatoes on the blue tiled counter. You can't just leave those. So you wash them gently, slice and toss them into a roasting pan with olive oil, herbs and cloves of garlic. You add a splash of balsamic vinegar. You slide the pan into a low-heat oven.


    Tomatoes for slow roasting


    The house starts to smell like an Italian villa. You fold and iron and fold. You plug in your iPod Shuffle and choose 250 songs (no Sting). You think about Santa Monica and the last time you saw your son, Colin. You add some of his songs to your mix. Then you notice the roses you photographed this week (they have seen better days). You empty the pitcher. You get distracted by the beauty of the dead petals and dried leaves against the white garbage bag. You grab your camera.


    Dead Roses by Karina Allrich


    You air out the luggage that has been in storage since May- sliding it into the bright afternoon sun (you'll have to tip it sideways later to scoot a frantic lizard back to his usual vertical perch on the adobe wall). You wonder if the tomatoes are done. It's been two hours. Or more. You peek into the oven and inhale the slow roasted garlicky dense tomato scent.

    You try not to panic about what the heck you'll eat for the next week (staying at the one hotel where you could get a last minute reservation in your price range- there's no kitchenette, no microwave). You imagine bags of chips and jarred salsa dinners. You hope Real Food Daily will have choices that are gluten, soy, lemon, nut-blah blah blah- free. But you don't really care. Somehow it will all work out. Or maybe you're just deep in denial, you think to yourself. You breathe.

    Then there's the last bit of autumn roasted green chile to think about. And half a bag of small gold potatoes. One big mother of a sweet potato. And one lonely uncooked organic burger. Might as well make a green chile stew before you hit the road.

    So you heat some olive oil in a pot, toss in some chopped onion, garlic, and crumbled beef, and sprinkle said ingredients with cumin and chili powder and stir until browned, humming a K T Tunstall tune. You throw in cut up gold and sweet potatoes and the last of the chopped roasted green chile. You stir up some organic beef broth and pour it in. A dash of agave. You let the stew do its stew-y thing while you contemplate which pair of sneakers to wear on the plane- Rocket Dogs or Skechers? Tough call. You'll decide later.

    There are toothbrushes and socks to be packed. But first, a glass of white table wine. Then a bowl of green chile stew.

    This is the part of the movie when she looks at her husband sitting by the window, back lit by sweet light, and your chest aches in recognition. You see, the thing is, you always knew it. In your heart you just knew. Those movies everyone told you were fantasy? The on-screen or off-screen marriages that crackled with mutual admiration and no bullshit and you pined for that while those closest to you clucked in favor of sticking with your marital misery because - and I quote- No relationship is perfect and every marriage takes work?

    Then why, Dear Reader- this time around, after twelve easy years- does it just keep getting easier? And life just gets more interesting? It's all about the risk. And trusting your gut. Whether it's making up a soup or reevaluating your career choice, or facing down familial opposition and sexual inertia because you actually believe in true love- it comes down to this. 

    You have this minute. 

    This second.

    So. 

    What are you going to do with it?



Post Title

How to Leave in 24 Hours


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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Dinner Out - Is It Worth It?


    When it comes to taking dining risks, I'm a big rubbery wimp. I waited five long gluten-free years before I even dared to consider eating out. The dangers of cross contamination scare the living daylights out of me. Why? 

    Back in my more innocent g-free newbie days I got sick at a friend's house. She was hosting a dinner party. Thinking I'd play it safe, I brought a pot of my homemade pumpkin soup. She thanked me, then stirred it with her ancient wooden spoon. Misery ensued.

    But this winter I decided to be bold.

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Dinner Out - Is It Worth It?


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Saturday, March 24, 2007

Vegetarian Enchiladas Griegos with Spinach + Feta

    View of Abiquiu, Northern New Mexico
    Rain clouds above the mesa, toward Abiquiu.

    Today is our anniversary. It is raining here in the high desert. Cloud cover blankets the mesa in a soft dove gray that is flirting with lavender. We married in this weather twelve years ago, sprinting through Cape Cod wind and mist to reach the antique door of our local Justice of the Peace without getting wet, the four of us stepping over the threshold to become a family.

    Me and my three men- my love and my two sons.

    I look at the photographs taken by the Justice's husband, our single witness. We are so young, all of us. Arms linking. There is palpable tenderness.

    The boys are now men. They stand taller than my five-foot-eight. My husband and I, well. We are wiser. And weathered. And we remain expectant. This has been a year of enormous change.

    We have sold most of our belongings (except books and paintings) and moved west. From the eastern shore to the high desert. From what was predictable and safe to what is unknown. What is possible. What might be.

    After thirteen years together we are still exploring, still traveling, still on our way to somewhere. We are painting less and writing more. We are listening to each other with deeper affection, having shed many old expectations. We have come through a lot this year, on many levels. And so have our sons. Their own lives have not stood still. They too have faced changes and embraced risk.

    I look out the window of my studio and exhale. I say a silent prayer for twelve more years. And twelve more years.

    And twelve more years.


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Vegetarian Enchiladas Griegos with Spinach + Feta


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Sunday, February 18, 2007

Gluten Free in the City of Angels

    Santa Monica in February

    Random Notes::
    I've been back in New Mexico for a week - a week that has skidded by at an alarming rate (it's true what they tell you about time accelerating as you advance in years, I'm sorry to say). Monday morphed into Friday with nary a blink. I've been playing correspondence catch-up, shoveling snow, doing heaps of laundry, and sifting through e-mails. I slid through Valentine's Day with a yawn and a shiver and a rain check in spite of good intentions and an armful of  red roses. Steve and I are both nursing a cold- the first we've caught in three years. Memories of those balmy afternoons sipping vanilla lattes in Santa Monica are fading fast.

    Albuquerque was dark and well below freezing when we boarded the plane to LAX. Two and a half hours later we were strolling the Santa Monica farmer's market in the morning sun, inhaling the ocean air, our winter jackets abandoned, tossed in the back seat of the rental car. It was lovely if not surreal.

    After scoping out the nearby Wild Oats, Whole Foods, and Third Street Promenade, we headed up to The Grove to drop in on our son, Colin, who was teaching a class at The Studio/Creative Bar at the Apple Store.


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Gluten Free in the City of Angels


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