Mud and Stuffing

And Then There Was Mud

The fire danger gave way to threat of mudslides at the beginning of this week. I had no idea that the Emergency Broadcast System could activate while replaying a recording on the cable DV-R box. I was watching a cooking show when I suddenly found myself looking at instructions for evacuation if I were in Yorba Linda, California. Next, I was on the shopping channel and somewhere else before I realized that my recording had been turned off. That happened three more times before the end of the recording. I really think that if I were in the flooding area, I would notice an impending river of mud. They seemed to be on top of the situation there, if the sandbags are any indication. For us, the rain was mostly a relief – save for all the skidding cars on the road. It made he temperatures much cooler (I finally put on my coat the day before Thanksgiving. I think that may be a record). The gray skies are a nice change. If we can’t have real autumn, I’ll take a little gray now and then. Thanksgiving makes more sense when it’s cool and damp than when it’s a blazing 90 degrees.

Stuffed with Stuffing

As always, I really enjoyed everything about the Thanksgiving Holiday. I like all of the holiday specials on the Food Network, even if I’d seen them many times. Though this year, I must admit to being vexed by the Dear Food Network mini series of specials. In it they had fans go meet their favorite chefs and learn to overcome their recipe disasters. I was particularly peeved over the Ina Garten segment on desserts. She flew in the participating fans to her house in the Hamptons by helicopter for a party in her new barn (not the kind of barn one normally conjures up, but one in which five star parties can be held). On top of that, one of the participants FIRST got to hang out with Tyler Florence. I asked him for help with my disastrous hush puppies years ago, but do I get a call – no! Granted, hush puppies aren’t typical Thanksgiving fare that I know of. They usually involve a fish fry. But I asked first. Boy, that episode really burned my biscuits. Not that I make biscuits for Thanksgiving either. We usually cheat by throwing brown n’ serve rolls in the oven after everything is heated (That’s if we remember we even bought them. There were a couple of holidays in a row they were still in the pantry when the guests left). Where was I? Oh yeah, I was really ticked off. I watched anyway. Our meal was really good and most plentiful where leftovers were concerned. I am seldom tired of them when they finally run out.

I didn’t do my usual photo shoot of food while I cooked. Actually, I was going to make a little video of my kitchen doings, but I was really taking it easy during the whole time I was cooking. In other words, it didn’t look pretty in here. I don’t want to horrify anyone. Perhaps I’ll make one during the Christmas baking. However, we wanted to show everyone something we were thankful about. We decided on this. In case you can’t see, we’re eating steak sandwiches. Very traditional.

From Spring 2007

Bush Vs Brentwood

There was a short but intense skirmish in LA’s Entitlement Zone. For a long while, Jon and I were working in retail in the Entitlement Zone (defined as a geographical area from Robertson Blvd west to the ocean and encompassing from Beverly Hills to Malibu west and south to Rancho Palos Verdes where consumers are used to getting everything they want from a retail or service even if they have no idea what that is or are completely unprepared for the transaction. For example, if I went to my post office back in Philly with a brightly wrapped gift and no shipping box or shipping information and announced that I wanted the gift mailed, the postal clerk would not only toss me out of the line, she/he may chase me down the street while flinging the box’s contents at me. In the Entitlement Zone, the clerk selects a shipping box, packs it and helps fill out the label while a line of people wait. This kind of service with endless patience gets old after a few years. President Bush was in town for some sort of Republican function in Bel Air. That’s not a large portion of the Zone, but his travel plans caused a monumental disruption to the entire area. We thought our commute would be affected, but the street we were on was cleared mid-way to UCLA. We found out the extent of Bush’s travel arrangement when we spied Marine One parked on a ball field a short distance from Sunset Blvd. Then were the Secret Service dudes and a phalanx of LAPD motorcycle cops. And they were all there to guard an empty helicopter. We couldn’t imagine how much firepower he had riding with the car. Our colleagues never saw any of this. They were caught in the mother of all LA traffic jams when the 405 was closed as was Sunset Blvd while Bush was on the move. There were no signs indicating why everything was standing still and goodness knows the Entitlement Zone doesn’t listen to AM news radio. They just do what they always do – try to plough through as if nothing was going on. There were near accidents and a lot of screaming and cursing. I don’t blame the Secret Service for closing the roads to traffic. In that neighborhood, someone driving a Hummer while on the phone, listening to an ipod and drinking coffee is likely to broadside the presidential limo and then be annoyed at being made late for a massage.

We got a kick out of seeing that big helicopter. And I have a soft spot for the Secret Service. I had more than one opportunity to interact with them while I worked at the Center City District in Philadelphia. The first time was during the wedding of Max Kennedy (son of Robert) to Victoria Strauss (heiress to the Pep Boys fortune). The Secret Service was with Ted Kennedy, and I was part of Papparazzi control. They were very polite and professional for being really heavily armed.