in four acts

I've been staying in lately, seeking some calm amid the merry onslaught which emerged in full force a week ago.

Since it takes this large pot of stock about the same amount of time to cook as it takes the tragic tale of La Boheme to be played, I've found peace and quiet with Puccini in the confines of a warm and steamy kitchen.

Vegetable Stock

5 carrots

5 stalks of celery

2 baking potatoes

2 leeks

1 large, sweet, yellow onion

a handful of parsley

a handful of thyme

2 bay leaves

a dozen black peppercorns

Act One

In a cold studio apartment in Paris, Rodolfo, one of four struggling, hungry artists, meets Mimi whose candle has gone out on her way up the stairs to her room.  She has a terrible cough and he invites her in.  They fall instantly in love and sing two of the most famous arias in all of opera.

Fill a large stockpot with 16 cups of cold water and place over medium high heat.

Carefully wash the carrots, celery, potatoes, and leeks, giving close attention to the dirt which may be in the layers of the leeks.  Set all aside.

Act Two

They join Rodolfo's friends for a crowded Christmas Eve celebration around the corner at Cafe Momus.  Rodolfo's friend Marcello, a painter, is reunited with Musetta, his former lover.  She sings Musetta's Waltz, another very famous aria. 

Peel and roughly chop the yellow onion, adding it to the stockpot.

Trim both ends of the carrots and the celery, chopping each and adding them to the pot.

Peel the potatoes and add the skins to the pot.  (Reserve the potatoes in a bowl of cold water for another use. I suggest a quick boil for potato salad while the stock cooks.)

Act Three
Mimi goes to a tavern hoping to talk to Marcello about Rodolfo's increasing jealousy which she fears is forcing them apart.  Rodolfo, with Mimi out of sight, tells Marcello it is his fear of Mimi's failing health that is scaring him away.  The two lovers decide to suffer the winter together before parting in the spring.

Rinse the parsley and the thyme.  Throw the thyme sprigs in the pot but give the parsley a rough chop then add them to the stock.  Toss in the bay leaves and the peppercorns.

Bring the stock to a boil and cook over medium high heat for about forty-five minutes. 

Act Four
Months later, the two romances have failed.  Musetta arrives at the artists' apartment, with a dying Mimi who has asked to return to the room where she was once so happy.  The friends leave, hoping to barter their personal belongings for medical help.  They return to find Mimi reminiscing with Rodolfo about their first meeting before taking her last breath.

Reduce and simmer, covered, until the opera is over. 

Allow the stock to cool then strain through a fine mesh sieve.  Discard the vegetables. 

Pat your eyes dry.







La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini
Premiered at Teatro Regio, Turin, Italy, February 1, 1896

come with me

Thanksgiving, The Dallas Arboretum, 2011

i'm reminded

Of all the pictures I've taken, this may be my favorite.  It is so, not because it's the best or even a great photo, but because it reminds me of many things.  And I need sometimes to be reminded.

It reminds me of the enveloping hugs I received this year from many kind people.

It reminds me of stepping from shade into sun in the parks and along the streets of Florence on December afternoons. 

I envision an aging couple, strolling slowly, hand in hand down the middle of the path.  I know that if we are blessed, and in what will feel like the blink of my eye, Spoke and I will be that couple, shuffling along together under this canopy.  I'm reminded what a gift our love is.

I'm reminded of the magnificence of nature; these trees, willingly and gracefully bending for us.

There is a famous, uncredited photograph taken in France, of a man and a very young boy, together on a bicycle, riding down a street lined by trees much like these.  Two long baguettes are tied to the back of the bike.  There are times when I look at that picture and ache terribly to be somewhere else; somewhere I imagine the grass to be greener.  Then I am reminded of these trees, in this arboretum, where I can come and sit under their sway until I am ready to head home, stopping perhaps to pick up a couple of baguettes. 

I'm reminded that I believe there is light at the end.

respite

" I don't want to be alone, I want to be left alone. "






Audrey Hepburn

i'm feeling moonstruck

a barnes and noble afternoon

The minute I stepped into Barnes and Noble at Lincoln Park, I could hear them.  Up the escalator I went and my Saturday afternoon got a whole lot better.

George was on guitar and all toes were tapping.

 




















Ray and Jon of course...

And Mark... 

Time to pull up a chair.

The Mark McKenzie Quartet; donating their Saturday afternoon 
in the bookstore, for a local church. 

I told you they're a great group of guys. 

bye-bye october

It's November!  I can barely believe it. 

I know October ended last night for there were children knocking on our door much of the evening.  Precious children and all of them polite with "Thank-You" and "Happy Halloween" shouted over their shoulders as they flew down the steps, their candy buckets and bags just a wee bit heavier.

I had as much fun watching Spoke as I did the trick-or-treaters.  As kids would knock on the door, Spoke from inside, would knock back.  Freaked out a few! 

"You like Double-Bubble?" he asked as he dished it out.  If they answered yes, he'd glare and accuse them of sticking it under their desks at school.  Caught!

It's nice the month goes out on such a happy note. 

I hope November does too but I have my doubts.  Serious doubts.  With The Holidays right around the corner, I'm feeling like such a child myself;  I want my mama!  I want my daddy!