Lizz's Blog: Simmerings

WWYD?

8/28/2012

Well, it's my own darn fault - I asked for it. My last blog entry I fumed and fussed because I couldn't find a domestic challenge to write about it.  Luckily, my prayers were answered.

I've had a pretty interesting week, what with my being partiallly paralyzed and all.  And, I got to meet a whole set of new characters in my life:  chiropractors.

Dr. A is a very nice man who kindly slipped my disc back into place after much weeping and gnashing of teeth (and that was just
him; I apologized and passed the Kleenex). His office assured me that why, yes, they did accept Red Rose City health insurance. Approaching the third visit, they clarified, explaining they did accept Red Rose City health insurance, but not
Red-Dot Red Rose City health insurance.

Yeeshkabiddle.

I called the Red-Dot Red Rose City health insurance 800 number, where I wasted a portion of my lifetime that will never be reclaimed. They confirmed; Dr. A's office is correct but if I went onto the www.MyRedRoseCity.com website, I would find a
listing of covered chiropractors in my area.

I live in Lancaster, PA – and while I love it, it is not exactly Mecca insofar as some health practices are concerned (ie. if you're into acupuncture or Reiki; be prepared to travel.)

I came upon my listings – all two of them. The first of which I recognized from having driven past; it lies between what portends to be a sports bar and what pretends to be a massage salon. Uh; pass thanks.

The remaining practice is just up the road from me. Oh, goodie!

I limp into the office with a gait that would make Quasimoto eligible for Swan Lake.  I fill out the 700-page questionnaire (why does this doctor feel it necessary to inquire as to whether or not I've had a happy childhood? Has anyone?)

I look about and realize somewhat acutely – along with my back pain – that yessiree Bob, I do live in Lancaster.  WWJD posters, books, magazined, pamphlets, Bibles abound.  This is not too unusual because Lancaster is well known as the Eastern Bible
(thumping) Belt. It's a lot like driving through our bucolic countryside only to find it reeks of Amish fertilizer – at first, it's offensive. After awhile, you get used to it.

However, I was not prepared for the Musak station to be tuned into the Rush Limbaugh of Bible Thumpers. The nerve pinch my character Mina Kitchen feels at acute moments of crisis has NOTHING on this. I worried – am I turning into my character?  Am I becoming Brundle-Fly?

I was led into an exam room where, in keeping with tradition, I waited for half my lifetime. This at least was normal, so it soothed me.  Things were looking up. So I looked up. There, plastered across the ceiling above the exam table were WWJD posters, cards, and other sentiments, along with a dried up Palm Sunday Cross made from, ummm, dried up Palm Sunday palms.

A nurse eventually came in (presumably after she gave birth to her third child) and took my blood pressure: it was 189 over something else ludicrous.

The only time my blood pressure reaches this elevation is during dental visits (which I find odd because I LOVE my
dentist – she grows fabuilous orchids and is a cat lover; what's not to like?) But somewhere back in my brain's developmental stages things got hardwired to interpret dentist = RUN.

So, I chalk up my elevated BP with my loathing of Bible thumping during non-Bible thumping hours. Like when my vertebrae is about to be snapped inbetween someone else's fingers.

Don't get me wrong – I'm a card carrying Episocopalean (really; once I transitioned from Reformed Dutch Protestant to
Episcopalean, they gave me a card.  It's on a magnet on our refrigerator – honest.)  So, ostensibly I share the same basic faith as Dr. B.

However, I'm not so much for cross-pollinization of sins. Example:  when I go to church, I don't expect to find dental floss and a packet reviling me of all my dental flaws in the pew. In short – I don't want one-stop-shopping for my dental/spiritual
issues.

At this point I realize there will be many who will be jumping up and shouting, “Yes, but if you address your spiritual issues,
your teeth will be whiter!” That may very well be. However, I'd like a little forewarning – and a choice, thank you very
much.

“Come to Dr. Snap N Crack – When Your Spirit Ails You, We'll Bring You Back (and so will Jesus upon the Second Coming)” Now, that would be honest advertising.

WWID? (that is, What Will I Do?) We'll see. I have an appointment with Dr. B. later in the week. If my head spins around and I spit pea soup across the room, I'll be a little concerned. Of course, that could unspiral my spine - so there's an upside.

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Eventful Events - But I Still Heart Aaron's Books, Lititz, PA

2/14/2012

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Last Friday I was lucky enough to have yet another wonderful book signing; this time locally at Aaron's Books, Main Street in Lititz "Pee-ay." En route there, I was lamenting to myself about my blog inertia; finding nothing to inspire me for a new post, etc. when luckily I found myself in a car accident.

Note to authors: fender benders en route to book signing is not advisable.

Thankfully the poor soul in front of me, who I slid into, didn't suffer a knick on her car. Unluckily for Sophie Sebring; she's is now the shop for a week getting mended with about $3,200 worth of repairs. So while she's being fixed, this week I have Soul. Specifically, a rental KIA Soul. Who knew?

As for future book signings - the future book, the sequel to Kitchen Addiction! is about half-way thru its first draft - titled Confection Connection.

So, aside from novel writing, book signings and wrecking my car on the weekends, I'm getting back into the practice of cooking our meals for the week in the hopes that re-heating leftovers is quicker than preparing dinner each night, and we might actually eat before 10:00 p.m. This week's fare consists of white turkey chili with canned chipotle peppers; pork and sauerkraut and cabbage casserole; and for our early Valentine's Day dinner celebrated last Saturday evening, bouillabaisse - which I actually went thru the trouble to concoct the rouille that every single recipe I read RAVED about.

Served the soup in bowls, smelled heavenly. Added the bread spread with the rouille as instructed, and sincerely wished we hadn't. I'm sure it's good for something, aside from ruining a perfectly good fish soup. So, lessons learned. The other lesson being that using the insisted upon saffron was a complete waste. Although I did include the prescribed fennel feel by using fennel seeds; was a nice twist.

So, we learned that we prefer my rendition of "Killer Shrimp Soup" to make a bouillabaisse. For anyone curious; this last time I used haddock and tilapia; calamari, shrimp and mussels. Pretty simple; takes like a half an hour to make. Want this recipe? Or the others? Just email me: [email protected].

Happy Valentine's Day folks - hope everyone enjoys a warm meal and good company, with a little champagne and chocolate, for good measure!

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A - We're Not Amish.

6/3/2011

3 Comments

About a dozen years ago I moved to Lancaster, PA with the wrong guy for the right reasons. After all was said and done, I stuck around the right place, for reasons that were right for me, and still are.

I like Lancaster. I REALLY like Lancaster. Unlike the suburbs, where I grew up, there isn't the hype of pretension that we're all somehow still city folk, claiming to live near the Big City, when secretly we're thrilled to be away from it. And, unlike the cities I lived in during my single years, there's a home-towny feel to Lancaster City proper. Maybe that has to do with the well-maintained architecture spanning from the turn-of-the-century, or before. Maybe it has to do with by-and-large, good city planning. Maybe it has to do with strangers greet you, and smile at you.

For my part, I'm hooked on the diversity. Example:  a typical weekend. Friday evening, I'll drive home from work through miles of corn and soy fields, passing dairy cows, goats and horses. When I first discovered my "secret" back road, I was thrilled and really had to resist the temptation to stop and develop my own personal petting zoo. Now, I usually say "hi kids" as a whiz by the pygmy goats. I'll get home, and hopefully kick back with my husband if he's home by a decent time (since he's a chef, this is somewhat up for grabs). Saturday, I might go downtown and pick up my boastfully local produce at the Central Farmer's Market. In the afternoon, I could take my mom to a matinee at the Fulton (local Equity house); or visit the art galleries on Gallery Row on Prince Street; or see a concert at the American Music Theatre on Lincoln Highway East. On any given Sunday, between June and October, I might also pack a tailgate picnic, with a nice Chardonnay, and head up to Rothsville's Forney Field, to watch the local polo pony club for a few chukkers. Yip; you read right folks: polo pony is alive and well in Lancaster.

And the food. OMG the food. I am not talking about the notorious Amish offal or dreaded whoopie pies. I'm talking Gibraltar; Log Cabin; Carr's; Ephie Ophelia; The Belvedere Inn; The Pressroom...I could go on and on. They are mah-velous dahling. GOOGLE THESE especially if you're headed out my way. And, while not in Lancaster proper, I can't forget my favorite, Lily's On Main in Ephrata. Complete 1930's art deco furnishings, throughout the building, including the background music in the restaurant. They make a mean Manhattan; and now own the cute movie theater on the first floor beneath them (the last I read, was that adult movie goers can now buy cocktails or one of Lily's signature desserts in the movie house!) And, of course, it holds a special sentimental place for me; Chef Hubby proposed to me there. It was a late night dinner, we were one of 3 couples. And yes, he got down on his knee and everything. There was a younger couple across from us; she cried. The gentleman from the older couple handed us a gag million dollar note.  If it had been real, it still wouldn't have mattered. I've been feeling like a million bucks ever since.

So, hope you'll visit and find the best of cozy culture and lots of farmland vistas, lakes and parks. And food - don't forget the food. Now, as for the stinkbugs - feh.

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You wrote a BOOK? Really? Why?

6/2/2011

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I decided to write a novel after I read a lot of disappointing fiction while I was unemployed and had too much time on my hands (insert Hollywood visions of monthly calendar pages blowing away in fake wind here.) I also think I have a pretty good sense of humor, like to make up stories, and was well, unemployed. So I could start a novel or sit at the bar. Since the unemployment thingy didn't really lend itself toward expensive cocktails, I bought a refurbished laptop from a single dad, his 2 boys and a Labrador Retriever, and began tapping away.

I also conned myself into writing for seemingly practicle reasons. I was unemployed. Even after I found a job, I was pretty sure I'd be digging myself out of some kind of debt. Having no knowledge whatsoever about the publishing industry, it seemed like a completely rational idea that selling a novel would be a pretty good part time job. Well, at least it would beat a part time job being part of the Pooper-Scooper-Patrol.

So, in order to create a book that was sellable, before I set down to invent any characters or plots, I set out to figure what other folks would like. Who are the people who read a lot? What are some current trends? What would I buy? And, of course, write about what's familiar. That's when I realized that while living and working in Lancaster, PA (pronounced PEE-AY by the natives) there are a lot of things I've learned to take for granted, that might be great fun for new readers (virtual tourists, in my mind) visiting my neck of the woods for a fun read. I'm also a foodie wannabe, as my chef husband will attest. And I love to entertain. And, I do have somewhat of a catering disorder...hmm....

So, I made up Mina Kitchen, a 40's something single gal with a 20-something pound orange tabby cat with white mitts and one slightly crossed blue eye. Mina is short for Wilhelmina. She's named after a great-grandmother Mina's never met and plans to thank in the hereafter by prodding a heavenly fork in her virtual side. Not because of inheriting her weird name, or even weirder nickname. It’s mostly because of inheriting her oddball catering disorder.

Her work buddies, Bauser, a techno-geek IT guy and Norman, who's pretty much a genious software engineer, stick by her, even after she loses her job at Executive Enterprises for Job Intuitive Technologies, otherwise known as E.E.J.I.T. So does Vito Spaghetti, her strange neighbor who has an obvious Swiffer addiction, as well as being a dry-cleaning junkie. And Trixie, her RN buddy who works late night ER shifts. And her Aunt Muriel, the polo pony crowd, and the senior gang at St. Bart's Episcopal. It's not quite the cast of "War and Peace" but I can assure you, Mina's never lonely. Well, at least not in KITCHEN ADDICTION! As for the sequel....[SPOILER ALERT]...

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WWYD?

Eventful Events - But I Still Heart Aaron's Books, Lititz, PA

A - We're Not Amish.

You wrote a BOOK? Really? Why?

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