I hadn't seen Jackie in about forever due to Anniversary weekend and mother's day weekend, so I called and said come over for dinner before your dance classes (their Wednesdays are like marathons, jive formation and normal dance class - 2 hours of on the go dancing!). We had Epicurious' Soy-Lime-Ginger Chicken, Rice, Marinated Cucumbers (recipe below) and Angel Food Cake (joy of cooking) with Whipped Cream and Strawberries. Yum!
Even though the Kel is out of town, my grilling turned out okay (whoooo hoooooo!)
Jackie and the Hippie convinced me that I hadn't missed too much at dance class, so I decided to tag along. We reviewed the swing, foxtrot and cha cha. And I miss these classes due to the crazy night time schedule I've been leading - hopefully soon we'll be able to get into the daytime part of the job and not miss out too much more!
Today I'll be going in for work at normal time. Before that, I'm going to redo the screen that the cat decided was in his way and mail off these babies for Hokie Healing:
The Cucumber Recipe
You know how some things remind you of certain people/places/things?
When I was growing up, my mom, sister and I would summer with my grandparents at "the shore". "The shore" to anyone growing up in the Philadelphia Area, were the beaches from Atlantic City to Cape May, in Southern New Jersey. My grandparents had a second home, double wide trailer on route 9, inbetween Sea Isle and Ocean City. We would go to the beach every day from about 8 until dinner. I would actually tan instead of burn (no really!) and my dad would high tail it from the city after work on Friday to be with us on the weekends.
This dish reminds me of summer, my grandmother and the shore. At night we would explore the trailer park, and hang out with the old men who played bocce on the hardened sand near one of the intersections and ride bikes and meet other kids our age. We would stop at tomato stands with a can on the table for payment. If it were a good night we would play mini-golf and stop for custard or eat carmel corn on the boardwalk after rides at "funland" on the boardwalk. Occassionally we would day trip to Cold Springs village or to see Lucy the Elephant in Margate.
My grandma would make this salad during the summer, and I asked her for the recipe, which was a heck of a lot easier than I ever thought it would be.
3 Cukes
1 onion, sliced
1 T Salt
1/2 c Sugar
1/2 c Lemon Juice
1 T Celery Seed
Peel and Slice Cukes.
Sprinkle with salt and put in fridge for an hour (sweat the cukes).
Drain Cukes and mix with the remainder of ingredients.
See, easy. These are better on day two, but you can eat them on day one.
There it is - my reminder for the Jersey shore. Now I just have to figure out the recipe grandma uses for spiral noodles and red sauce - I know it involves bacon. Everything is better with bacon.
On a side note:
My Mom and Dad took Grandma to see her sister in upstate New York, see the Falls, and bed and breakfast to make a good trip of it over Mother's Day weekend plus a couple of days.
Aunt Blanche isn't doing all that well, can't travel and isn't lucid. So when these three show up Grandma turns to her sister and says - do you know who I am?
Blanche doesn't, but says her face looks familiar.
My Mom has her turn - of course I know who you are - you're Millicent. (Another sister, not my mom).
And before my Dad can get "do you know who... - Hi Bill!
There are no other Bills on that side of the family.
For some reason, everyone remembers Bill. The first time this happened, it was my grandfather. About a month before he passed away, he told vivid stories about visiting Nicaragua last week (never had been to Nicaragua, let alone in the last weeks of his life). He sent my mother to tears by not recognizing her, but when my Dad came in said - Hi Bill!
He isn't even related by blood to these people. Crazy.
1 comment:
ROCK! thanks for posting that recipe for me, amy! i am going to make some ASAP (which probably means monday...) dinner was awesome, and so was having you back at dance class. we miss you!
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