Another Trip Around The Sun

The title of this blog is a phrase coined by our dear friend Janet Cohen and an excellent one to describe at a year that has gone by. Thank you Janet. We miss you and we love you.

I think I'm going to break what would have been one blog into two segments. Today's piece will be about this year, and the blog tomorrow will focus on the future trip around the sun i.e., 2014.

So, today I'm going to reflect on this year. Note: there is no special order to these.

HIGH POINTS:
I turned 60 and had a great party w/my wonderful friend Erwin
I lost 45 pounds and changed my life, including the way a deal with food
I did the Dipsey
Completed two great classes at Laney College..learned a lot
Visited my friend Joey, Shelly, Julie, and baby Joey
Got some cooking videos up
1st trip to Escelan  for the Readers Write workshop...Sun Magazine
Haven't had a drink in 4 months
Got rid of the television reception, and I don't miss it
Geri bought me a bike for my birthday and I rediscovered cycling
Went to Hawaii, Maui, wowi, going back in 3 weeks, wowi again
Feast of the 7 Fishes w/Vicky and Cassius
Greek Easter and visits w/Charles and Kathleen
Britney, Paul and baby Ella visits
Blogging...I think I'm a better writer than a year ago
Christmas holiday ride in Alameda
Visit from Ocean and meeting new people
Almost finished the second draft of my screen play...I'm close
Vicky beating skin cancer
My family is all healthy and alive

LOWS POINTS:
Loosing my best friend Che
Michael trying to kill himself
My friend Mary Harlis passed away
My bike accident
Vicky's bike accident and fracturing her arm
Vicky getting skin cancer

It looks like we're ahead of the game. There were many goals that I had set for myself that didn't never got accomplished; like getting a solar unit on our Airstream trailer, and relocating it back to our property in the high dessert, or painting the teardrop trailer.

For me losing Che was lowest low. You can't replace a loved one. Losing 45 pounds was the highest high.

There are many things in the hopper for 2014.  Only time will tell.

Lobster tonight.

That's it for 2013.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

New Year's Meal, Bullets, Michael

There's a fish market in Chinatown, Oakland, that I go to every year for my crab or lobster. They have live Alaskan lobsters for $8.99 a pound. They look great. I'm going to buy one tomorrow. I'm looking for a 2 pound er. They have some nice local Dungeness crabs for $3.99 a pound, but I'm going with the lobster. You only live once.

Geri won't eat any, so I get the whole crustacean to myself. I got some salmon from the Farmer's market Sunday at Jack London Sq. for her.

We'll have black eyed peas cooked with onions in chicken broth, brown rice, salad, and a veggie. We've got a beautiful bottle of Champagne from my buddy Jack as a birthday gift and our neighbors Marilyn and Gisella are having folks over. It's close and it's safe.

 The lead will be flying in Oaktown tomorrow night. I got a couple of  cracks on my windshield of my truck that look to be from small caliber weapons, possibly a .22. I've been keeping it out on the street more because I ride my bike everyday now. It's easier to get the bike out of the driveway. The shit is just flying around in the air.

I'm happy to say our friend Michael is doing much better. I went over to see him today, and he is being moved to a nursing home tomorrow. We had a good talk today. His speech is actually better than it was before. That's good progress on the horizon.

Tomorrow, if I have time, I'll reflect a little about 2013, and write about my goals for the coming new year. All very scintillating stuff. Till then.

That's it for today.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Two Down, One To Go + Sugar Fest

One more holiday to go in the grand season of holidays, and it's back to normal, or what passes as normal for us.

Of the three holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's eve, New Year's eve is the most obnoxious, and potentially the most dangerous in Oakland. I don't understand what all the celebration is about? Is everyone celebrating because they buy a new calendar?

If you're out reveling in Oakland you'd better be careful. Bullets are flying everywhere. The M 80's and the cherry bombs have started going off already.

The food of choice for the New Year celebration, if we have to call it that,  is crab legs and black eyed peas. This food is reported to usher in good luck by my dearly departed brother-in-law Micky. Geri and I could have used some luck in 2013.

This Christmas was a sugar fest for me. I made the peanut butter truffles. One of my clients gave me a a pound of See's candy and there was a ton of desserts at the 7 Fishes celebration this year, which I sampled.

Next up comes the evaluation of last year's resolutions, and the new resolutions to replace the old ones. Till then it's leftovers.

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food, Not War

Cooking With the Spouse + Weekend Update + Last Game At The Stick + Merry Christmas

Geri and I put together that recipe I posted last week for chocolate peanut butter truffles. Very easy recipe to replicate,  and they are extravagant in the calorie department. 6 of those, and a couple of gallons of water and you could climb a mountain.

Constructing something with a spouse can be very frustrating for both the players involved. Lord hear my prayer, "Give us strength."

I also made a mac and cheese using Swiss Emathlor, Dutch smoked Gouda, Parmesano, and sharp Irish cheddar cheese. The recipe for this dish is somewhere in the blog archives? It's called tits mac and cheese, I think?

The Honey Baked is ready. The mac and cheese is, well, tits. We got the truffles, and Breyer's ice cream for dessert, Rocky Road. I'll make a salad dressing and we have Brussels sprouts for a veggie.

Tonight is the last game at the stick between the 49ers ad the Saints. Hand jobs, howling at the moon, and riots to name just a few. Too many stories about the Stick. Now that I think of it I should write a couple of those down. Go team. If you still have the memories you can still go back there.

Best of all it's just me, Geri, our friend Guy, 5 or 6 dogs, and three
cats.

Write at you Thursday.

Merry Christmas to you.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Bacon Review + The Weekend + Slicer Pizza + Honey Baked Ham

It's cold in Oakland and I can't seem to get warm. My hands are cold all the time, even when I'm wearing gloves. Old man syndrome.

Last Sunday at the Jack London Square's weekly Farmer's market I picked up a pound of bacon from a company named Boucherie Meats.  I told the man who was selling it, Peter Jackson,  that I would try it, write a review, and send that review to him. So, here it is.

I opened the packaged bacon to find one solid piece of fatback bacon. At least I think it's fatback and not pork loin. I say that because pork loin is leaner, fatback, is of course fattier. I like the fact that it was one solid piece so I could cut to my own thickness but I think a lot of customers might not like it that way.

Many people are not comfortable using a ten inch French knife. Fatback is not that easy to cut through, think of a slightly softer shoe leather, and for 10 bucks a pound people might think, "Shit, I can get Hobbs apple wood smoked bacon for 8 dollars a pound, cut, and with more meat on it.

There's was a lot of fat on this peace of meat, but the flavor from the hard wood smoke, and the taste from the crackling, the pig skin, was excellent. I'll give them that much. If it was learner I'd buy it again.

Now, of course I'll use all that fat. I saved all of it that I could. Next time I make French fries or a potato gratin I'll use that fat, along with other pork fat I've saved, but when I buy bacon I want more meat. It's just that simple. This was not lean enough for me.

Would I buy it again? Not the bacon. Next time I see him I will try his sausages, and do a review on those. They make an andouille sausage that I'd like to try. They can be found at; www.boucheriemeats.com 510 495-6584

I will give them a one joint review. It's better than no joints.

This weekend is like the rest. More cycling, date at the movies with the bride , life.

I went back to Slicer on Piedmont Ave. and they now have oregano, and possibly the most fragrant oregano I've ever smelled. Collin showed it to me, and you could smell it coming out of the shaker. So, take that dink off my check list.

Greek oregano has always been the most pungent to me. Maybe I have to change my thinking, or my source for oregano. I'll get the name of the oregano source next time I'm there.  In the package he showed me the oregano was dried, but still on the stems. I was at Slicer because -

I was over at Honey Baked Ham getting my ham for X MAS and the place was slammed. I'll make the mac and cheese, dessert, salad and the dressing next Wednesday. I can bake a smoked ham that will have you coming back for more every time, but it's a lot of work. HBH got it down. Buy it or make it? This year I decided I'd buy it. I just hope I don't eat it all before Wed. Falling off the bone. I love the swine, and it loves me.

Back to Slicer...The slices still need to be bigger. That's the only thing that standing in the way of a coveted three joint restaurant review from the Old Hippie Chef, speaking in the 3rd person.

As usual, I bought two slices. Bottom line. Slicer pie ROCKS! Bravo. My new favorite place to get a slice of pie this side of Oakland. Two and a half joints.

Have a peaceful weekend.

That's it.

Life is what happen in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Saul's Restaurant and Deli

You won't find a better NY style Jewish deli in the East Bay. I make a pilgrimage for my kosher pastrami sandwich at least once a year, and today is that day.

Geri and I rode over there on our bikes and back again, plus all around Berkeley, a good 25 mile run.

I did get a pastrami on rye, side salad and a bowl of fries, They make their fries shoe string style, just the way I like them.

You got to go if you haven't been. It's in the gourmet ghetto, same side of the street as Chez Panisse, and across from the Cheese Board.
Get there before the lunch rush or after. It gets slammed and don't forget the deli.

Saul's Restaurant and Deli
1475 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley CA 94709
510 848-deli

That's it.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Tuesday Dec. 17th...Peanut Butter Truffles

Here is the peanut butter truffle recipe that I raved about in my most recent blog post yesterday. Hope you like it.

Note; It is decedent and a little costly, but people will love you for it.

This recipe is brought to us from Kristen Todeschini and her blog is; when-i-went.blogspot.com I modified her recipe just a little bit.

Thank you Kristen.

I'm going to make these for Christmas eve dinner at our friend Deborah Roberto's home where we celebrate the Sicilian Feast of the 7 Fishes.

That's it for today.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Peanut Butter Truffles (makes 36 to 48)

Ingredients;

1 pt. crunchy peanut butter
1 stick or 1/4 pd. unsalted butter
3 C Rice Krispies or pulverized rice cakes

2 packages chocolate chips
3 C powdered sugar

Directions;
1) Melt the butter and in a large mixing bowl add it to the peanut butter and mix until fully incorporated.
2) Add the powdered sugar and Rice Krispies mix well until all is incorporated.
3) In a double boiler melt the chocolate
4) Roll the PB mixture into one inch balls and dip into the chocolate one at a time. Remove them with a fork and place on a sheet pan lined with wax paper.
5) Place in the freezer for 15 so the chocolate can set up.

Back Again + Weekend Update + Thinking about 2013

I am back again after a week of no blogging. Our dear friend Michael Evans is recovering in the intensive care unit, and it looks like he's going to make it. He isn't out of the woods yet. Today he gets his gallbladder removed. When it rains for Michael it's a flash flood. This must be his 64 year tune-up.

Life does go on, no matter what happens. My good friend Erwin always says to me in his lovely Austrian voice, "I have a felling Marcel, that the world will go on just fine without me." and indeed it will. It won't miss a beat. It just keep on spinning.

This weekend Geri and I bicycled up to visit Michael in the hospital and into Berkeley. We got lunch at a street fair, bought a few trinkets, and then rode back home again.

Our dear friend Barbara and her husband Arthur made us a wonderful vegan noodle meal with 4 different kinds of sauteed mushrooms,  and a great salad.

Last night we rode over to Alameda with the East Bay Bike Coalition for the annual Christmas bike ride through Alameda. We started at the Fruitvale Bart station in Oakland. It was the highlight of the weekend. There were about 80 cyclists with 2 boom boxes playing Christmas carols.

The ride culminated at Christmas Tree Lane, which you can see on YouTube. There was a woman by the name of Kristin Todeschini who made the best chocolate peanut butter truffles I've ever had. I'm hoping she'll send me the recipe so I can share it with my little world.

The year is almost over, which will cause many of us, myself included, to reflect how the events of the year have it's impacted  our lives. For myself and my wife this was a roller coaster year. Big highs, big lows. If my ciphering is correct I think we're on the high side. At least I am at the moment I write this dumb blog. Thank god for Alice. Bottom line is you've got to tough out the hard times, and hope for the best.

We have a peewee Christmas tree on the mantle amongst a single string of colored lights. We've got two holiday door mats out. I've sent out two cards thus far, and I don't think I'll send out any more.

If someone asks me why I keep on keeping on my answer is invariably the same each time. There has to be another good meal left in this life, and that's worth living for.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Weekend Update

The best laid plans of mice and men. It was very cold this weekend. I didn't get much riding in. Fifteen years ago we had a cold snap that lasted almost 2 weeks that dipped into the 20's. The cold is one thing, but the wind chill fact is worse.

Food was our DOC, drug of choice, this weekend. It gave us comfort. We went into the City, and got a parking place in North Beach. We took Brit and Paul to Original Joe's and showed them all the our old bohemian hangouts. Finished the night with some cannoli. 3 cannoli without a generous tip cost 13.50. We kept running into people we knew.

Sunday our friend Guy brought over a delicious pan of sausage lasagna. It was food, food, and more food.

My friend continues to languish in the hospital.  He is not doing and, does not want to live. It's very sad. Life is sad, and beautiful. I have a lot of guilt, being Catholic. I've tried to be a good friend to him. Harsh words of the past can haunt us.

When he came to live with us I told him I would be here for him till the end, and I will honor that commitment.

It's too much for me to write about just now. This is the best I can do at this moment. We must go on. This has been a hell of a fucking year.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

A Tough Week

When Im feeling down I make food. Food does have the ability to comfort us, It's something that is familiar, something we love. Food is a central point of our lives. It's there when we celebrate, and when we mourn, at weddings, christenings, and funerals.

I'm making a huge pot of red sauce. We're out of the last batch I made.  Michael's daughter Britney, and son-in-law Paul, are coming in from Connecticut to help with Michael. I was there the day Britney was born. If I could have a daughter I'd want her to be just like her. Paul, her husband,  is a wonderfully kind, strong, loving man.

We visited Michael in the hospital last evening, and I had one of the saddest moments of my life seeing him there in the state he is in. The staff at Alta Bates are incredibly kind and informative. He's getting the best care anyone could get, and surprisingly his prognosis is good. He did not have another stroke. There is cause for hope.

So, I'm done blogging for this week. I'll eat, and work out like a mad man this weekend.

We might get snow in Oakland tonight. My hands have been cold for two days, old age.

That's it.

Life is what in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Blogging

I have returned to this stupid insipid form of journaling even though my heart is not in it. Our friend Michael is in the  intensive care unit at a local hospital on life support.

He tried to kill himself, and he failed. We don't know the extend of his condition. He is on life support systems.

I would love to write about the glories of the culinary world, succulent  roasts,  tantalizing desserts, but frankly I don't give a fuck right now.

Hang in there with me. I'll bounce back because what other choice do I have?

There people who wake up in the morning and say to themselves things are going to be bright and shiny today. These are the luck people in my estimation.  I wake up expecting the worst, and I hope for the best. In between the struggle you can find joy.

I was thinking yesterday that if there was a god and he punished all of mankind, which he supposedly made in his image and likeness, because man ate an apple when he was told not to, then he is not a forgiving god. But, all I have to do is to go to confession, and admit my sins andI'm forgiven.

Help me here someone. Because I'm confused. Why couldn't god forgive us in the first place?
Seems to me the set up the human race to fail right from the giddy -up.  If god is all knowing, all seeing, and all caring, and so fucking smart how come he/she/it didn't know we'd fuck up in the first place.  If you ask me god is not a forgiving god, he/she/it's a mean god, and apparently not an extremely bright god either.

This is why I did so poorly in Catholic school. No one could ever give me the answers to these big questions. 1) where do we come from  2) where do we go from this world when we die 3) what's it all about?  If you tell me you have to answer to these questions, then prove it to me. Then I'll follow you, and not until then.

If someone tells you they are the link in the chain to the divine, run from them as fast as your feet will carry you.

I've been told that the doors to everlasting life are open to us all if we heed the teachings of the lord, and praise his name. Here again, I got to admit, I'm confused.

All these things we have been told about god, they've all been spun by humans and what do we know? The bible was written 300 years AD of Jesus.

There's a reason newborn babies cry. It's because none of us want to leave the safety of our mother's womb for this world and why would we.

I'm still waiting for the aliens to come and take me away. You looking for people to abduct, here I am. Just don't probe me, you know where, please. How come everyone who's been abducted by aliens has been rectally examined?

I love you Michael. Please get well.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Michael Has Been Found

Our friend is safe and hopefully he will be getting some comprehensive medical and psychological help.

I'll be blogging again soon.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Michael Missing

Our friend and roommate Michael Evans left our home Sunday around 11:00. He went to his usual coffee shop in the Dimond district, and we have not seen him since.

If anyone has any knowledge of his wear abouts please contact the
information given below. Michael is physically disabled.

Till this matter is resolved there will be no more blogs.

We pray for his safety.

Peace,

Marcel & Geri
                                                MISSING
Michael David Evans; please report any information to the Youth Service Division Oakland report # 13-0G1433 phone 510 238-3641

Weekend Update + Turkey Pot Pie

Geri and I went over to Walnut Creek, a very strange land full of strange white people, with bizarre habits.

I went over there to check out Rivendell Bicycles. I was thinking about getting a touring bike. They told me they would be open, and when I got there no one was there so we hit the Iron Horse Trail for about an hour, and then came back to Oakland. Oakland is equally as strange, but at least we have some color over here.

I did wind up buying another bike, but I won't be getting it for another 4 months. It's on order.

Sunday Geri made pie crust, and we filled it with leftovers from Thursday's turkey fest. If I get time this week I will post Geri's pie crust recipe, complete with photos, but you can find that recipe in the Joy of Cooking cookbook. If you follow that recipe you can't go wrong.

If you are a person who collects cookbooks the Joy of Cooking should be one of the first books you buy.

That's all I got today.

Life is what happens in between meals.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War