"As long as you can see each day as a chance for something new to happen, something you never experienced before, you will stay young." -Sadie Delaney
Last winter the mother of one of Shay's classmates at the Arts Academy was having coffee with Christy at our house. This woman saw some of my art work that had been sold for art festival posters. (I always take prints of the posters in lieu of cash. The posters are more valuable to as I can use them as gifts to friends and donations to civic organization fundraisers.) This woman loved the posters and as the co-chair of the Utah Arts Festival asked Christy if she thought I would consider being a juror for the festival. Christy told me she wanted to say, "Are you kidding, my Mom would probably pay you to let her jury!" Having been reared to be socially more astute than that, she actually said, "My Mom would probably be honored to be selected a juror for such a prestigious art festival."
So, it came to pass that I was invited to be a juror for the prestigious Utah Arts Festival. In April all twelve jurors met at a computer lab where we viewed all the entries in all media and disciplines (more than 500 pieces of art) and, using a grading system 1 through 5, chose the entries for the 2011 Utah Arts Festival. Actually, none of us knew who the entrants would be. The scores were tallied by the Festival Committee and the exhibitors were notified of their acceptance or rejection.
Fast forward to June 23 through 26, 2011 when the Festival opened in the downtown Salt Lake City park at the center of the complex that houses the City-County Building, the beautiful new Main Library and our civic theatre. There were over 200 stalls housing artists, commercial exhibitors and food purveyors. The 19th century architectural gem that is the City-County building was the center and streaming entertainment was presented on the enormous granite stairs by local university groups and civic performance troupes.
My job this weekend was to walk the festival and grade 159 art booths for general appearance of the booth and quality of the work presented. Christy was with me, of course. Along the way, we ate lunch, drank various liquid concoctions of coffee or fruit and yogurt, watched the performances and bought more art, jewelry and pottery than we needed.
We capped off the day by attending a dinner at a friend's home for another friend who, like Dean and I, had left Salt Lake City for retirement, and was visiting. Our visiting friend, Mary's husband, Mike, died a few months before Dean from bone cancer. Mike was also a pilot who flew for Delta. Christy, of course, knows all these folks well and was as happy as I was to see them and visit.
At home, it occured to me that on most days I don't feel the ravages of 74 years on this earth, but on Friday, June 23rd I was acutely aware of every one of them and enormously grateful for all that I have been given; life, years, talent, enthusiasm, family, friends, humor and good health!
"I haven't clawed my way up the food chain to be a vegetarian." -Charles Jarvis
This week Shay is a vegetarian - a vegan, actually. She and a couple of her friends have decided to eat this way. This will probably only last a couple of weeks, but for whatever period Shay is reading ingredient lists. She can't eat the bread we normally buy because that bread is made with eggs and milk. This is my granddaughter who can on any given day eat more roast beef than an over the road truck driver.
We go through these phases with Shay and Frank on a regular basis. Frank has a shorter attention span so his phases last only a couple of days. Shay can go at least a month.
Shay's new eating program resurrected memories of my Catholic upbringing in the days when we did not eat meat on Fridays. In New Orleans this was not much of a sacrifice given the variety of seafood available to us. To this day in New Orleans most folks eat seafood on Friday.
One of my favorite Friday dishes did not contain seafood, rather it was an Italian egg and vegetable dish. The foodies call this dish Fritata. In my historic oliographic New Orleans neighborhood, wherein resided many families of Italian descent, it was called Frosia.
Our next door neighbor, Mrs. Manale, was a Sicilian woman who had been widowed thirty or forty years before and still wore black every day. She also walked three blocks to our neighborhood bakery at 3:00 p.m. every day to buy two loaves of French bread as soon as it was removed from the oven. Her family which consisted of her only son, Peter; his wife, Lillian and their children: Rose Rita, Peter and Charlie. Mrs Manale was ninety and she cooked everyday for that family. On Fridays she cooked Frosia and she added crawfish.
Over the years I tweaked this recipe by adding bacon. This is my recipe for the dish, which is no longer strictly vegetarian.
Crawfish, Mushroom and Eggplant Frosia (Fritata)
1 eggplant, peeled and cut into 1" squares
4 strips bacon
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press
1 12 ounce bag Louisiana crawfish (Wal-mart sells these all over the U.S.)
6 eggs, lightly whisked
1/4 cup milk or half and half
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese, in all
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Add eggplant to a large pot. Add enough water to cover. Boil until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.
While eggplant is cooking, slice bacon into 1/2" pieces and fry in a large skillet until crisp. Remove bacon and drain on paper towel, reserving the bacon fat in the skillet.
In a well-seasoned black, cast iron frying pan saute the onion in the bacon fat until the onion is translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms and saute lightly. Add the crawfish and cook until heated through. Add the eggplant, bacon, eggs, milk, salt, pepper and half the Parmesan cheese. Stir gently to combine. Cook over medium-low heat lifting with spatula to let the eggs flow underneath, until the edges are set but the middle still is loose, 3 to 4
minutes.
Remove from the heat and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Place in the
oven until the eggs are slightly puffed and the cheese is bubbly and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve immediately at room temperature with a green salad.
"A home without a grandmother is like an egg without salt." -
Florence King
Today is Frank's birthday. He is twelve. He has been celebrating his birthday since Friday when he returned home from school, so today is somewhat anticlimactic. I waited until this morning to give him his card which contained a check - Frank loves holding onto money! He is the rare child who has the ability to forego immediate gratification and wait until he has enough money to buy something BIG!
Frank, along with his mom and sister, lives with me. After Dean died I asked Christy, Frank's mom and my only daughter, if she might want to live with me if I returned to SLC. Christy being a divorced mother of two with a fulltime career, limited space and limited funds was thrilled with this offer. So, I bought a 3400 square foot house in an upscale neighborhood with a living room, family room, rec room, five bedrooms and three baths and we have shared this for four years now. We all get along fine because none of us hold grudges, we usually say what we mean and mean what we say and we know how to share. I grew up in a large rollicking Creole family and while Christy had only a brother, she had the experience of my siblings and their famillies. Acceptance has always been my family's strong suit.
Frank and I have a pretty good relationship. For some reason Frank knows that I know that he has his mother wrapped around his pinky finger. Frank and I have come to know each other quite well. He respects me and does not "mess" with me the way he does with his Mom. I quite like our relationship. It is genuine and while I do not always approve of Frank, I love him and see the humor in him. He is very smart and talented, despite the limitations suffered by a spoiled "mama's boy." I can say that because I raised one. Frank and his Uncle Rick are much alike. So, I can appreciate Frank, and truth be told, I'm probably the most realistic relationship he has right now.
So, happy, happy, Frank!
