Cucina di Becca

Ed Flitton - grandfather, husband, father, brother, friend extraordinaire

I have been promising these videos of Dad for a while...and I pictured writing a tribute to him on my blog. And then I found that I just can't right now. But here I am, sitting at his desk and looking at all of his things, and it feels right to get these videos up for anyone who would like to reconnect to memories of him.

These are both VERY short, so don't get too excited. They were both taken on our Christmas morning 2009. The first one -- the moment he opened his ukelele. We loved the look on his face, so you will see many cameras going off. The second one -- taking down the stockings for Luca and Mimi. He always loved making Luca wait when he had something that Luca wanted. There are few moments when he could exert his control over Luca, and he treasured those moments!

 

 

Green Smoothies

So, there is a book called "Green for Life" that Angela recommended to me a long time ago. We were talking a lot about the raw food movement at the time. The title of the book stayed with me, and I got frustrated waiting for the book from the library. I bought it on the Kindle recently, and I read it in a couple of days. Pretty fascinating stuff.

She makes some tremendous claims about curing cancer and such, but I am mostly looking for a way to get in the veggies early in the day. I have tried:

• Mango and parsley
• Kale and blackberries
• Cherries and spinach

So, here is the bad news. I am going to have to sneak into Helen's house and steal her Vitamix blender. I am spending my extra cash on music classes right now, so there is no way I can afford that blender. My Osterizer just isn't cutting it with the kale. My next trick is to freeze it first. Stay tuned.

I will say that I feel pretty great after drinking the whole smoothie. Especially before the gym. Don't really buy that it might cure cancer, but I would be psyched if it helped me kick my caffeine habit !!

A fun new recipe

We are on our second try with this recipe, and it is so yummy! The kids ate a bit of it...

Spirals with Chard and Garlic Bread Crumbs (from Gluten-free Italian)

Oh, you know what. I am too tired to type it out.

Basically, you saute a little garlic in olive oil and then roast the bread crumbs in it (gluten-free of course).

Then you cook up a little pancetta or anchovies with the chard stems and some chopped garlic and if you want, red pepper flakes. Add salt.

Then, you cook the brown rice pasta with the rest of the chard, drain and stir it all together with a little more olive oil.

So clever. And so yummy. Luca did pick out the chard. Sigh.

Gluten free pizza...on a peel????

Gluten-free Italian

Thought I might start a list of the recipes that I have tried from my new cookbook...ala Julie and Julia...hoping to try them all! It is challenging to not revise them. I actually bought prosciutto and anchovies for a couple of recipes. Teaching an old dog some new tricks. Luca and Mimi have liked everything that I have made so far...which is shocking.

• Penne and Beans with Ragu -- yum!
• Three Cheese Cauliflower Gratinato -- so creamy...
• Minestrone with Pesto, Genovese style -- double yum!
• Pappardelle with Salmon and Cream - Pretty good but I skipped the smoked salmon...
• Chicken and Prosciutto Risotto -- Josh and Carly loved it
• Baked Brown Rice Risotto with Mushrooms -- Awesome new staple, can add any veggies, made with swiss chard and everyone loved it
• Spinach and Ricotto Gnocchi with Sage Butter -- Disastrous. Total flop. Had to fry them to salvage dinner and then Bill dipped them in ketchup. Sacriledge...
• Chicken Scaloppine with Almond Crust - OK, but I prefer Nourishing traditions with gluten-free bread crumbs 
• Turkey and Sausage Meatballs with Chunky Tomato Sauce -- excellent!
• Pork Fillet with Pesto Stuffing -- Bill loved it. Cheryl loved the leftovers. I don't like big chunks of pork so much.
• Quick Rustic Flatbread -- Amazing texture!
• Mushroom Crostini -- OK, not spectacular.
• Almond Pumpkin Cake -- Spectacular!!!!!! With almond flavored whipped cream...my knitting group was in heaven.
• Chocolate-Walnut Torta -- Made to celebrate Bill's run. Noga liked it which says a lot.

This is one of the few cookbooks that I haved tried that I really trust. Every recipe, except the gnocchi, has been worth the effort and cost. So, onward I go. With maybe some pictures too.

 

 

Wise Fool

"Say goodbye to your moms and dads!"

Luca turns to me as I bend down, and he says, "Goodbye, Mom" in a solemn voice, but his eyes lock with mine and he gives me a kiss on the lips. He turns around and follows his fellow 1st graders in.

Is that it? I want to follow him, help him find his desk...reassure him a little more.

But Coyote and Panther are with him.

I sat on his bed last night and asked him to pick a card from a deck of animal cards. First, he choose panther. I tell him that it says "Passion, follow your passion!" We  talk about what passion is, and this card is not resonating with him. So, I tell him to look a little more.

He picks Coyote, the Wise Fool. And I laugh. What is a wise fool? Someone who makes mistakes, but we all make mistakes, right? The Wise Fool learns from his mistakes.

Its energies are tied to simplicity and trust. It is the card for developing poise in the chaos of life.

Coyote is often portrayed as the wise fool, helping people see the truth in difficult situations. Coyote medicine is often strongly tied to learning to be adaptable, seeing the humor in even the worst situations, and being able to cope with even the toughest things that life can throw at you.

He seems satisfied with this card, but asks about passion again. He is such a passionate kid, but he hasn't found his passion at school. I can see that he wants to. He decides to take both cards, and he runs down to put them in his backpack. 

Adaptability -- that's the main reason for the success of the coyote. It can easily change its behavior to survive in a new place.

The perfect buddy for Luca at school...

Old Friends

 

 

These pictures inspired me to finally get back to blogging...just had to share them. Can you believe that I have a friend who moved BACK to Colorado? Who has a 6 year old son that Luca adores? It is still a bit of a dream. Mimi looks pretty happy too.

(boy does Luca pronate!)

Here are some other moments that I have been thinking about blogging about...

 

 

Kitchen re-model craziness...don't take away my sink AND stove... i get really grumpy.

 

 

 

Amazing amazing Mexico. So beautiful. So much delicious food. Cooked right in our condo overlooking the ocean. Mmmmm...waking up to the smell of bacon that I am not cooking...no children in my bed...nothing to do...it was a slice of heaven. And those Huevos Rancheros were the best that I have ever had. I am growing tomatillas this summer just in an effort to replicate this marvelous breakfast.

 

 

Lastly, our trip to New Mexico which thoroughly convinced me that kids should be living in community. Kids were happy, adults were happy...good times, as Bill would say. Yes, that is Bill managing to play with Mimi and get in a nap. For a while, he actually had the Snoopy sitting up and facing Mimi so that she could carry on full conversations between the dogs. Talented Dad. Oh -- and you can see Luca's black eye from his mysterious allergic reaction. That was frightening...

Sleeping Beauties

I know that it is cruel to take flash pictures while people are sleeping...but...

 

and..well, then there was...

 

and, after four days of being with the kids without my husband, they won me back over five minutes ago with this...

 

Well, my semester is almost officially over. Hallefuckin'lujah.  I was seriously put to the test this academic year. But things are slowly improving -- my students acknowledged me more than ever at the end, Bill kicked serious ass in his race today, Mimi has discovered peeing in the toilet, Luca has taken on the practice of hugging me when I get bitchy with him...

let the summer begin! Cooking, blogging, swimming, biking, partying in Mexico...I think I deserve it.

Marcella cucina

Finally, I finished reading Marcella Hazan's autobiography -- "Amarcord". She is the author of the only Italian cookbooks that you will find in my family's kitchens...or at least the only ones that we use.

She starts with :

    "You could describe the road my life has taken as a      series of unexpected and improbable turns."

Umm...yeah. She was trained to be a science professor. Sound familiar? Maybe a small hint from the universe...

She had many bold moments as she veered away from that career path. She grew up experiencing the horrors of World War II, and then married an Italian Jewish man who had grown up in New York. She ends up back in New York, with no knowledge of the language, no job  and no family or friends besides her in-laws. She does what I would have done....lots and lots of cooking.

She also learns to speak English in order to conduct cooking classes. My favorite example of botching the language was this:

"Somehow, one day, when we were discussing what I was going to teach the next day, I slipped into the language of the lesson. I said, at one point, 'I am going to show them how to screw the shrimp.'

'Say that again,' Victor said.

I repeated the words.

'And you have been saying it all the time?' he asked.

'Sure'.

'And no one has ever made a comment?'

'No, why, what's wrong with it?'

I never tried to use the word 'skewer' again."

That took me right back to my first day in liceo, Italian high school, when the teacher greeted me with "Ciao!" and I responded "Ciao!" and the whole class bust out laughing. Hmmm, that happened to be the only word that I knew in Italian at the time, and I was pretty sure how to use it. WRONG. One never greets an elder that one does not know in this way. "Salve" would have been the proper response.

I found this to be a slow read, but a really interesting one if you like cooking. One particularly sweet moment is when she describes a woman holding an infant at a book signing, explaining that they named their baby after her because of the enormous impact of her cookbooks on their family.

So, in Marcella's honor, I share my hands-down favorite recipe of hers because it is SO SIMPLE.

Lemon Chicken

Wash a whole chicken well, and sprinkle with salt and pepper, rubbing it into the skin with your fingers. Take one large lemon, or two small ones, and rub between your hand to soften it. Pierce it all over with a fork. Stick it inside the chicken.

Put the chicken in a roasting pan breast-side down, and cook for about 30 minutes at 350^o F. Turn the chicken gently, and then cook for about another 40 minutes. Raise the temperature to 400^oF and cook for

 another 40 minutes.

Serve, spooning the sauce created over the chicken.

Important caveat: do NOT check on the chicken. When I was in high school, I tried to make this chicken for a favorite math teacher and his wife. I was so nervous that I checked the chicken over and over. Dinner was delayed by about 1.5 hours, during which time my dad had to sit and talk with them. To put it mildly, they were NOT his favorite people. He finally forgave me during my college years....and then I started dating their son.

(no...it was not Bill...)

Sick of being sick...

Let's see - it started with Mimi's fever one week ago Friday. She had a fever for four out of the next five days, and developed a renching cough as well. On Wednesday, Luca developed a fever and was able to tell me that it was accompanied by a hellacious headache. Poor Mimi of little words never let me in on that... Then, I felt it coming Wednesday night. I spent most of Thursday in bed, except one trip to my new healer of all things, Jan the acupunturist. Unfortunately her strange method of reducing fever by scraping my back with the lid of a baby food jar did not cure my fever. It was nice to nap in her quiet office though. On Friday morning, my mom and Bill bid me farewell for the rest of the weekend.

Yes, I was with the kids, essentially quarantined since no one wanted this heinous sickness. A friend passed food through the door, and my babysitter took the kids to the park...but it was mostly me with a 102 fever and back-wrenching cough/headache. I don't remember EVER feeling this sick, but then again most sick people go to bed. It is really something else to be responsible for small children when you are sick.

Some great things did happen though...

• Luca made Stone Soup. Pictures and recipe to follow.
• Luca taught Mimi how to play Roundup. He even cheated to help them win.
• Luca did puzzles with Mimi!
• Mimi slept peacefully all weekend. I can't say that much for Luca though...
• I read Marcella Hazan's autobiography which I am excited to share!

I was actually amazed at how well the weekend went. I knew that I couldn't really get anything done, so I just played and played and watched lots of movies and read a lot. Thank the universe because Bill came home from his mountain trip.......sick.